Turkish Unmanned Vehicle Programs

Kompromat · Dec 27, 2013

Very good news.

Casus Belli · May 9, 2014

xxxKULxxx · May 9, 2014

------- · May 10, 2014

Here's a vimeo version

------- · May 14, 2014

Turkey Steadily Builds UAV Capabilities | Defense News | defensenews.com

“Erdogan views the Anka as one of his signature projects in national defense modernization,” one Erdogan aide said.

Late last year, the Turkish government signed up with Tusas Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) to order 10 Ankas and ground stations. Under the deal, the first serial production deliveries will take place between 2016 and 2018.

Recently, Turkey’s procurement planners have moved to add satellite communications capabilities to the Anka and have brought together a task force that will design and develop an indigenous engine for the UAV.

Meanwhile, a version dubbed Anka+ calls for a rocket attached to its body and sensors. But TAI has ambitions beyond the Anka.

Company officials said their work over the past year and a half to build a high-altitude, long-range (HALE) drone will soon yield results. TAI’s HALE-type UAV will be a 6-ton aircraft.

“We have not yet signed a contract for this, but we know that there is demand for this category,” a company official said.

...

Kale-Baykar boasts that under the Bayraktar program, the consortium developed various systems critical to drone technology including a flight control with three backup systems, inertial navigation and GPS systems, static pilots system, power control unit, a lithium-based smart battery, aerial data recording computer, video link system, tail camera, ground control station, and command-and-control software.

A military official familiar with drone systems said Bayraktar would be a preferred solution, especially in operations against Kurdish insurgents in Turkey’s southeast, because of its “exceptional quietness. This is a very effective system.”

Although there has been a ceasefire for over a year, Turkey has been fighting Kurdish insurgents in the country’s southeast since 1984.

Vestel Savunma Sanayi has since 2005 been developing the Karayel, another tactical drone, investing $30 million in the program.

The private company said on May 6 that deliveries soon would begin of six Karayels, three ground control stations and support systems.