Turkey ‘to deploy surface-to-air missiles’ to Cyprus

The Turkish government is planning to deploy surface-to-air missiles to Cyprus, with the conflict in the Middle East ongoing, according to reports on Wednesday.

Turkish newspaper Sabah reported that Turkish-made Hisar missiles will be stationed on the island, and that their deployment will follow the stationing of six Turkish F-16 fighter jets at the north’s Ercan (Tymbou) airport since Monday.

Hisar missiles use infrared homing to lock onto their targets, tracking them using the light they emit. Hisar-A short-range systems and Hisar-O medium-range systems have been in service since 2021. Reports elsewhere have suggested that it is the Hisar-A system which has been deployed to Cyprus.

Additionally, Hisar-RF systems, which use active radar homing, thus carrying their own radar receivers to track targets, are in the prototype phase.

Sabah also reported that Bayraktar Akinci and Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat drones are stationed in Cyprus, with these likely located at the Gecitkale (Lefkoniko) aerodrome, which was formally handed over to Turkey’s armed forces in January 2024, having been used for military purposes since 2019.

Turkey is one of multiple countries which have deployed military assets to Cyprus, in the aftermath of a drone strike on the island’s British Akrotiri air force base last week, with Greece having been the first, deploying four F-16s of its ownto Paphos last Monday evening.

However, the deployment of Turkish hardware to the island comes with Greece and Turkey seeming now to be heading towards alignment regarding Cyprus’ role in the conflict.

Following the arrival of the Greek F-16s last week, Turkey lodged no protest, and the country’s defence ministry’s spokesman rear admiral Zeki Akturk instead announced that a delegation from the Greek air force will visit Turkey this week “within the framework of bilateral relations and regional developments”.

He then described the Greek delegation’s planned visit of as a “confidence-building measure”.

In addition to Turkey and Greece, other countries including France, which has sent its aircraft carrier the Charles de Gaulle, have also deployed assets to the island.

The Netherlands is the latest country to do so, with a Dutch frigate set to deploy to Cyprus as part of the Charles de Gaulle’s carrier strike group, while Italy had announced its intention to send the Federico Martinego frigate to Cyprus, and Spain is to send the Cristobal Colon frigate.  The United Kingdom, meanwhile, which operates and holds sovereignty over the Akrotiri air force base, has sent multiple AW159 Wildcat helicopters, armed with anti-drone