The contract for the GÖKTÜRK-3 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Satellite System Development Project, Türkiye’s first satellite system to carry a SAR payload, was signed in 2024 between Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. (TUSAŞ) and the Secretariat of Defence Industries (SSB).
SAR satellites provide imaging capability in all weather conditions, day and night, significantly expanding and enhancing the imaging and intelligence capabilities of the Turkish Armed Forces’ existing electro-optical satellites. This capability will serve as a major force multiplier for the Turkish Armed Forces while also offering civilian use in areas such as disaster monitoring and management, environmental monitoring, agriculture, maritime, cartography and geodesy, and geology.
Within the scope of the Earth Observation Satellite (IMECE) Development Project, supported under the 1007 Program, the IMECE Satellite was successfully launched into space on 15 April 2023 and remains operational.
The high-resolution electro-optical Earth observation satellite and its ground systems were indigenously developed with domestic resources and capabilities. This project ensured the sustainability of technologies gained in previous programs and provided space heritage to domestically developed or under-development systems and subsystems.
