The trial, conducted at the Turkish Ministry of National Defense Live-Fire Test and Evaluation Group Command, was attended by 64 representatives from 24 countries. According to MKE, the TOLGA system successfully neutralized targets across seven distinct operational scenarios, which simulated threats from loitering munitions (kamikaze drones), drone swarm attacks, and fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The live-fire exercise demonstrated the system's multi-layered air defense capabilities in a field environment, highlighting its integrated architecture designed to counter asymmetric aerial threats, including cruise missiles and low-altitude drones.
Developed under a cost-effective and modular design philosophy, the TOLGA system is engineered to provide tailored protection levels based on evolving threat vectors. The platform integrates 12.7mm and 20mm weapon systems—available in both mobile and stationary turret configurations—with specialized counter-UAS (C-UAS) ammunition. The complete system footprint includes MKE’s GÖKBÖRÜ AESA radar, acoustic detection arrays, electro-optical sensors, electronic warfare (jammer) suites, and an advanced command-and-control infrastructure.
The platform utilizes a two-tier interception strategy. The initial defense layer employs the AESA radar, electro-optical tracking, and electronic jamming to detect and execute soft-kill countermeasures against hostile drones at ranges of up to 10 kilometers.
If electronic mitigation proves insufficient, the system transitions to its hard-kill layer. TOLGA utilizes MKE-manufactured 12.7mm, 20mm, and 35mm weapon systems firing proprietary air-burst fragmentation ammunition. Featuring optimized detonation timing and distance controls, the ammunition generates a high-density kinetic fragment cloud around the target to ensure destruction.
Operational engagement ranges vary by caliber: the 35mm air-burst ammunition achieves kinetic interception up to 3,000 meters, while the 20mm and 12.7mm variants offer effective engagement envelopes up to 1,000 meters and 300 meters, respectively.