ASELSAN's TOLUN-EW gliding munition jams radars before strikes

Türkiye's ASELSAN is promoting TOLUN-EW, a gliding munition equipped with electronic warfare systems that suppresses radars and air defenses before a strike. Thai defense channel Pacific Steel called it the most valuable achievement of the Turkish defense industry.

Türkiye's ASELSAN is promoting a new version of the TOLUN guided munition equipped with electronic warfare systems. Thai defense channel Pacific Steel devoted a separate review to TOLUN-EW and called the system the most valuable achievement of the Turkish defense industry to date.

The channel assessed it as an advanced technology that places Türkiye among the leaders in network-centric warfare.

How TOLUN-EW works

TOLUN-EW is a long-range gliding munition with a compact electronic countermeasures station. Before striking its target, it actively jams enemy radars, disrupts communications and blinds air-defense systems.

The munition uses digital radio-frequency memory technology (DRFM): it creates false targets and opens a corridor for manned and unmanned aircraft. Unlike the US MALD and Europe's MBDA SPEAR EW, TOLUN-EW has no rocket engine but carries a warhead. Its threat library can be updated, while the data link allows the munition to be controlled in real time.

The TOLUN family

TOLUN-EW was unveiled in May at SAHA Expo 2026 alongside TOLUN-L, which has a semi-active laser homing seeker, and the fragmentation TOLUN-F. TOLUN-L weighs 121 kilograms and has a circular error probable of less than 3 meters, while TOLUN-F carries a 70-kilogram fragmentation warhead designed to strike radars, air-defense systems and command posts.

The family of munitions is certified for the F-16 fighter and Bayraktar AKINCI drone. Its range when launched from an F-16 is about 100 kilometers, compared with about 67 kilometers from an AKINCI. The SADAK-4T rack can carry four munitions on a single pylon, and they could eventually be integrated onto the KAAN, HÜRJET, KIZILELMA and ANKA-3.

Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter (archive)

Export ambitions

In a second review, Pacific Steel noted that ASELSAN is rapidly entering global markets, while an increasing number of countries—from the Middle East and the Caucasus to Eastern Europe and Africa—are turning to Turkish defense products and reducing their dependence on traditional superpowers. The review's authors said Türkiye is transforming from a weapons buyer into a producer shaping the direction of future-war technologies.

The video shows ASELSAN's stand at MSPO 2026 in the Polish city of Kielce, where the company signed a contract with Poland's AMZ Kutno in September to supply additional ARSUS intelligence and surveillance systems. Türkiye's defense and aerospace exports reached about $10 billion in 2025.

ASELSAN's TOLUN-EW gliding munition jams radars before strikes