Turkey’s newly unveiled intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) “Yıldırımhan” is drawing attention not just for its bold claims, but also for a controversial AI-generated promotional video. Defence experts remain unconvinced about the missile’s projected capabilities.
The launch ceremony came under fire after an AI video showed it striking its ally, the United States, according to a report by the Financial Times.
The missile was introduced at the SAHA 2026 Defence and Aerospace Exhibition by Turkey’s Defence Ministry’s research centre. It was presented with a claim that it could travel up to 6,000 kilometres while carrying a 3,000 kg warhead at speeds reaching 25 times the speed of sound. If successful, the project would place Turkey among a small number of nations capable of developing long-range ballistic missiles.
What drew more eyeballs at the grand event was when an AI-generated video used during the presentation appeared to show the missile striking targets in the US. The video raised concerns because the missile’s claimed range would not be enough to reach the US. After the controversy, Turkish officials have now confirmed that a fully operational prototype of the Yıldırımhan missile has not yet been built or tested.
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Yildirimhan, which means “lightning” in Turkish, was meant to be part of Turkey’s broader goal to show its growing military power ahead of a key NATO summit in Ankara in July. The US-Israeli war on Iran remains a reason for Turkey to expand its military deterrence in an increasingly unstable region.
“We intend to use it solely for deterrence purposes,” Defence Minister Yadar Guler said at a launch event for the missile on Tuesday. “However, should the need arise, let no one doubt that we will deploy it without hesitation and in the most effective manner,” he was cited as saying by FT.
Despite the grand launch, defence analysts remained sceptical about the actual capabilities of the 18-metre-long missile. It also added that there was no sign that Guler knew that the video showed the US targets.
“It’s an overestimation. Turkey’s defence industry has many capabilities, and is improving fast, but it’s not yet at this level,” one Western defence official told FT. “It seems very ambitious and questionable,” added Fabian Hoffman, a missile expert at the University of Oslo.
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Days after unveiling the Yıldırımhan missile, Turkey’s Defence Ministry has clarified that the system remains in testing. “Laboratory testing of the Yıldırımhan missile system, which has a warhead payload capacity of 3 tonnes, has been successfully completed, and field testing is proceeding,” it said on Thursday.
The development comes as Turkey expands its defence industry, strengthening its position as the world’s 11th largest arms exporter. Key Nato allies such as the UK and Germany have also described Turkey’s industrial capacity as essential to the defence of Europe.
Turkey’s longest-range missile is currently the Tayfun, which has reached 600 km in tests, a tenth of Yıldırımhan’s claimed 6,000 km range.
