Türkiye’s Roketsan Cirit missile integrates into pickups

Nigerian officials recently showcased Roketsan’s Cirit 70 mm laser-guided missile on a pickup truck with an electro-optical system. Aselsan’s Karakurt EO/IR system, complete with a laser designator, fitted the top of the pickup’s cabin, while a turret holding a pod containing four Cirit missiles adorned the flatbed section.

This configuration offers a cost-effective alternative to the more versatile, better-armed, but expensive KMC system, which can fire Umtas ATGMs.

Pickup trucks are significantly cheaper than military-standard armored fighting vehicles, and the use of simpler systems contributes to this solution’s low-cost factor. Cirit is a 70-mm laser-guided missile, providing a cost-effective alternative to ATGMs for softer targets.

Roketsan Cirit

Roketsan Cirit, produced by the Turkish rocket and missile manufacturer Roketsan, is an 8-kilometer (4.9 miles) laser-guided 70 mm missile system. Initially developed for the Turkish Armed Forces’ T-129 Atak, AH-1P Cobra, and AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters, the system aims to enhance the Turkish military’s precision strike capability at a low cost. Eurocopter also selected the Cirit system to equip the Eurocopter EC635 helicopter.

Roketsan and MBDA Germany signed an agreement on May 22, 2014, to produce and integrate the 70 mm laser-guided missile system (Cirit) into the Eurocopter Tiger.

The Atak helicopters use the Cirit missile, named after a traditional Turkish game, for ground targets, which demonstrates high accuracy against lightly armored targets. It features a rocket motor with reduced smoke fuel and insensitive munition characteristics, a multi-purpose warhead with a triple effect (armor-piercing, incendiary, and anti-personnel), and electromechanical control actuation systems.

Roketsan’s various Cirit pods, compliant with the MIL-STD-1760 interface, can launch the Cirit system, which is compatible with MIL-STD 810 F and MIL-STD 464 A standards. It can also be fired from M and LAU launchers and Roketsan-designed smart pods.

The missile integrates seamlessly with multiple platforms, including helicopters, UAVs, naval vessels, fixed platforms, ground vehicles and light attack aircraft.

Cirit, primarily used in attack helicopters against ground targets, can neutralize lightly armored, unarmored, and moving targets.

It offers two alternative warheads: the first, a multi-purpose warhead with armor-piercing, incendiary, and anti-personnel effects, and the second, a high-explosive warhead with fragmentation effects.

Specifications

• Weight: 14 kilograms
• Length: 1.9 meters
• Caliber: 70 millimeters
• Effective Range: 1.5–8 kilometers
• Guidance: Laser-guided
• Platforms: helicopters, UAVs, naval and fixed platforms, ground vehicles, and light attack aircraft

With this new configuration on pickup trucks, CIRIT continues to demonstrate its versatility and cost-effectiveness, providing a reliable solution for various military applications.