GEZGİN: Where Türkiye's Tomahawk-Class Cruise Missile Stands as Roketsan Readies Production

Türkiye's answer to the Tomahawk is getting closer to the production line. Roketsan General Manager Murat İkinci said in September that production preparations for GEZGİN, the country's long-range cruise missile, had been completed, and that serial production would begin once testing and qualification are finished. Turkish defence media returned to the programme this week as the industry gathered in Ankara for the IGEF security exhibition.

What GEZGİN is

GEZGİN is a land-attack cruise missile designed by TÜBİTAK SAGE, the state defence research institute, with Roketsan responsible for production. The goal is a weapon with capabilities similar to the American Tomahawk: a subsonic missile that flies low over long distances to hit fixed targets deep inside enemy territory.

The missile is planned to be launched from several platforms: submarines, surface warships, ground launchers and aircraft. That flexibility is the point. Türkiye has no long-range strike weapon of this class today, and its navy in particular has relied on shorter-range anti-ship missiles.

A Turkish Preveze-class submarine on the surface. GEZGİN is planned to be fired from submarines in a capsule. File photo.

Tests so far

The most important public milestone came in 2025, when GEZGİN was fired in a capsule from a submarine at the Aksaz naval base. A submarine launch is one of the hardest ways to fire a cruise missile, because the weapon has to leave the torpedo tube, rise through the water and start its engine safely after breaking the surface.

Work is also under way to integrate GEZGİN with MİDLAS, the Turkish vertical launch system for warships. Türkiye has been developing its own launchers partly because of US restrictions on the MK 41 system, which would otherwise be the standard choice for a NATO navy.

What is still unknown

Officials have not published GEZGİN's range, warhead or production rate. The comparison with Tomahawk suggests a range well beyond 1,000 kilometres would be the goal, but that is an assumption, not an official figure. It is also not clear which platform will receive the missile first.

What is clear is why Ankara wants it. Long-range precision strike has become a central part of modern deterrence, from Ukraine's use of Western cruise missiles to Europe's own push for deep-strike weapons. A home-built cruise missile that can be fired from Turkish submarines and the new Istanbul-class frigates would give Türkiye a capability few countries outside the major powers have, and one it could eventually offer for export.