Turkey has tested its first BORA domestically manufactured ballistic missile, the country’s defence minister announced on Thursday. The Bora, or “Storm”, long-range missile was tested near the Black Sea coastal region of Sinop, Fikri Isik told broadcaster A Haber.

“A new launch of our Bora missile, with a range of 280 km, was just test-fired in Sinop. It will strike its target in the Black Sea any minute now,” he told local A Haber TV channel at the time. He later described the test as successful.

Talking to the news channel on the sidelines of the IDEF 2017 defence exhibition in Istanbul, Isik said, “Turkey now makes its own missiles; we have gained the self-confidence to make better ones.”

The BORA is a mobile short-range ballistic missile (also named Khan for export) and developed by Turkish missile manufacturer Roketsan.

The Khan artillery missile system, designed and produced by Roketsan, can provide mass fire power on High Payoff Targets within the area of influence of the army.

Roketsan reported that the missile has a diameter of 610 mm, a total weight of 2500 kg, and a 470 kg warhead.