Trisula Air Defense System – Integrating Turkish and Czech Technology
The Indo Defense 2022 defense exhibition which took place in early November, recorded a unique moment in the world of air defense artillery weapons systems (arhanud). This is because through a joint agreement with the Indonesian Ministry of Defense, two major global defense equipment vendors were successfully ‘tied’ to develop an arhanud solution specifically designed for Indonesia’s needs. The two vendors in question are Roketsan from Turkey and Excalibur Army from the Czech Republic.
It is stated that the arhanud solution that will be worked on by Roketsan and Excalibur Army is the Trisula Air Defense System. According to the label attached, the Trisula air defense system in its concept offers missile-based air defense in three platforms, namely short-range air defense missiles, medium-range air defense missiles and long-range air defense missiles.
In detail, the components of the Trisula Air Defense System consist of the Trisula-O Missile System (OMS), Trisula-O Weapon System (OWS), Trisula-U Missile System, and Trisula-U Weapon System (UWS). The name Trisula was given specifically for Indonesia, while the original name of this air defense missile system in Turkey is Hisar (Fortress).
By Turkey, Hisar is based on the design of short-range air defense missiles (Hisar-A), medium-range air defense missiles (Hisar-O) and long-range air defense missiles (Hisar-U) developed by Roketsan and Aselsan since 2007. The missiles were developed by Roketsan, while Aselsan is responsible for most of the sensors and electronics.
With a mix of three types of air defense missiles, Indonesia will have a tight and complete air defense system to respond to all types of threats from the air. The Trisula missile family will later be used to protect military bases, ports, and other strategic facilities from attacks by fighter/attack aircraft, helicopters,
Hisar-O is launched from the Mercedes Benz Zetros 6×6 truck platform.
For the Trisula Air Defense System, Indonesia will adopt two systems, the first for medium-range air defense missiles named the Trisula-O Missile System and the long-range air defense missiles named the Trisula-U Missile System. Trisula-O (Hisar-O) can pursue targets as far as 25 km at a maximum altitude of 10,000 meters.
While Trisula-U (Hisar-U) can destroy air targets at a distance of 70 km. The current status of Hisar-U is still a prototype, while Hisar-O has entered service with the Turkish Army in January 2022.
The role of the Excalibur Army in the Trisula Air Defense System is as a provider of launch vehicle platforms, radar vehicles, command control vehicles and ammunition vehicles. From the model shown at Indo Defence 2022, the vehicle platform that will be used on the Trisula Air Defense System is the Tatra T815 8×8 heavy truck type. While in Turkey, the Hisar missile system uses the Mercedes Benz Zetros truck.
