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Turkish Unmanned Vehicle Programs

The drone and the ammunition have been improvised! It has been one of the best non-Sat controlled and armed system! Additionally it has not been restricted by MTCR!

so do they make "missile tests" after every upgrade? i don't see anything new here except software improvements.
nice video tho, im not criticizing the video just saying they could upload some combat vids while hunting pkk monkeys.
 
Don't understand lack of development in this area. Major players are known to look at what TSK demands and try to come up with something for it. How come no one is making a move in this area? Is it simply too hard?

Because I read that TSK demands limited development and basically made it impossible to launch from catapult in terms of Karayel. But why isn't anyone making medium sized drones that can fill multiple needs? What kind of drones do our conventional units have if they don't have access to a hangar? Hand launched mini Bayraktars...

To be honest with you, I don't see why TSK wants catapult launched UAVs.

-1 it has large footprint
-2 it requires more personnel specialised in setting up catapult
-3 landing is difficult and risks damaging air platform

If I were in TSK and SSM :) I would be looking at VTOL alternatives, which eliminates above listed disadvantages. From my understanding, Baykar and TAI are both developing VTOL UAVs..

 
To be honest with you, I don't see why TSK wants catapult launched UAVs.

-1 it has large footprint
-2 it requires more personnel specialised in setting up catapult
-3 landing is difficult and risks damaging air platform

If I were in TSK and SSM :) I would be looking at VTOL alternatives, which eliminates above listed disadvantages. From my understanding, Baykar and TAI are both developing VTOL UAVs..


VTOL is also fine by me, just that intermediate class gap needs to be filled asap :)
 
To be honest with you, I don't see why TSK wants catapult launched UAVs.

-1 it has large footprint
-2 it requires more personnel specialised in setting up catapult
-3 landing is difficult and risks damaging air platform

If I were in TSK and SSM :) I would be looking at VTOL alternatives, which eliminates above listed disadvantages. From my understanding, Baykar and TAI are both developing VTOL UAVs..


who is making and sharing these awful cellphone videos?
 
WQzPOm.jpg
 
Turkey’s expanding domestic drone production
Posted on August 12, 2017
by Paul Iddon.

I don’t want to be sarcastic but I would like to thank [the United States government] for any of the projects that was not approved by the US because it forced us to develop our own systems.

So said İsmail Demir, the under-secretary for the Turkish defence industry, on May 2016. Demir was speaking at a time when the US Congress delayed the sale of drones and armaments to Turkey, over concerns about Ankara’s conduct in the fight against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Demir argued that this wasn’t a problem. After all, Turkey can now make its own drone systems and use them as they please without fear of having to rely on a supplier who might withhold deliveries or spare parts.

Bayraktar Tactical UAS

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TAI Anka MALE UAV

Less than a month before Demir made these remarks, Turkey tested the domestically-produced Bayraktar TB2 UCAV and successfully hit a target on a test range from 8 km away. “The Bayraktar uses the MAM-L and MAM-C, two mini smart ammunitions developed and produced by the state-controlled missile maker Roketsan,” noted Defense News in May 2016. “Roketsan’s mini systems weight 22.5 kilograms including a 10 kilogram warhead.” Already in October 2015, we spotted the Bayraktar TB2 UCAV parked in front of an aircraft shelter at Batman air force base.

Turkey deems itself one of the world’s lead drone producers. The country’s Science, Industry and Technology Minister Faruk Özlü declared that Turkey is aiming to produce drones as heavy as four tons and “equip them with high quality weapons and cameras”. Current drones in the Turkish inventory, Özlü said, “weigh around 560-600 kg with a small weapon system on them”.

Turkey also produced the TAI Anka, a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drone. Operational models are for reconnaissance. The Turkish Defense Ministry says the military will take delivery of the first six, out of a total of ten ordered, this year.

Additionally, the country’s STM Defense Technologies and Engineering Co. announced in May that they are going to introduce a series of new so-called kamikaze and monitoring drones — the Alpagu, the Kargu and the Doğan — designed to operate together and “equipped with artificial intelligence algorithms for monitoring”. The Alpagu is a fixed-wing tactical attack UAV launched from a pneumatic portable launcher expendable for single use and can be made ready in just 45 seconds. The Kargu is a similar multi-rotor variant. The Doğan’s reported ability to effectively monitor battlefields and gather intelligence, with their “fairly high optical zooming capabilities and high flight performance”, could make them an effective tool for pinpointing targets for Turkish artillery strikes.

One of Turkey’s domestically produced TAI Anka drones.

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One of Turkey’s domestically produced TAI Anka drones. (Photo by N13s013, Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license)

The Turks aim to become completely self-sufficient in the production of all their drones and all the systems on them (see also “Turkey’s growing domestic arms industry“, offiziere.ch, 21.05.2016). It has relied on a signals intelligence (SIGINT) system made in the US for its drones, which it aims to replace with its own BSI-101 SIGINT system.

Demand for Turkish drones have increased primarily due to two factors: Ankara’s dual campaigns against Islamic State (ISIS) and the PKK, and the failed July 2017 coup and subsequent crackdown which significantly reduced the strength and manpower of the Turkish military.

The Turkish Air Force has an estimated 240-270 F-16 Fighting Falcons, and is one of the few country’s which can domestically produce the iconic fighter-bomber. After the coup however, according to one statistic, they now have only one pilot not in jail for every two of these jets in their current inventory. Turkey discharged up to 350 pilots responsible for flying various aircraft in the air force since the coup attempt.

A Turkish F-16 fighter jet flying over Albacete Air Force Base, Spain during Trident Juncture 15 on October 21, 2015. (Photo: Cynthia Vernat).

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A Turkish F-16 fighter jet flying over Albacete Air Force Base, Spain during Trident Juncture 15 on October 21, 2015. (Photo: Cynthia Vernat).

Turkey publicly appealed for former pilots to refill these depleting ranks, only to have the plea go unanswered. Another telling statistic found that out of a sampling of six pilots who left the air force and could return if they chose, only one said he would “re-register to help replace dismissed colleagues whom the government blames for being part of a network that planned the failed July 15 coup”.

“Turkey fielded seven F-16 squadrons with strike or attack as their primary mission before the coup attempt,” noted analysts Mike Benitez and Aaron Stein in a September 2016 analysis. “However, of those original seven, four are now being shuttered, leaving three squadrons designated for strike and attack”.

In other words, it may take Turkey years to fully operate its entire F-16 fleet again: a fleet which it uses to routinely violate Greek airspace over disputed territories in the Aegean, bomb the PKK in southeast Turkey, and Qandil Mountain in Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as launch cross-border airstrikes into Syria against other Kurdish fighters and ISIS.

If Ankara’s new upcoming drones are as accurate and effective as Turkey boasts they may prove less risky to use, say, above Syria than their F-16s. In November 2016, during their operation “Euphrates Shield” in northwestern Syria, Turkey had to halt air support to their troops and allied Syrian militiamen for one week when Damascus threatened to shoot their jets out of the sky. The loss of drones over the battlefield would, for obvious reasons, be less costly, both financially and politically, to Ankara than the loss of manned aircraft.

Ankara’s enthusiasm for indigenous unmanned aircraft is unlikely to fill the void left by the loss of pilots to operate their manned aircraft, nor elevate the Turkish Air Force from a state of half-strength any time soon. Nevertheless, it bolsters another part of Ankara’s domestic arms industryand may provide the military with new capabilities as it continues to fall short in meeting the requirements to run its highly formidable military at pre-coup strength.
 
Any info about links to foreign companies, license production etc?

None that I'm able to find, their About Us page reads as

At Z-System, we not only design but further engineer, manufacture, test, and sell UAV systems. With our know-how from design customizations based on the needed useful payload through to the last phase of the manufacture process, we collaborate with you at every step to satisfy the useful payload requirements suitable for purpose in every potential mission.

While providing operational grade utilization ability with our systems, we concomitantly offer the capabilities delivered by tactical grade systems.

• Designed and Produced in Turkey
• Integrated System Information
• Operational/Tactical Missions
• Payload Options and Integration
• Specialized Auto-Pilot, Command Control, Flight Software
• Suitable for Day and Night Missions
• Live HD Video and Telemetry with digital wireless Communication
• High Precision GPS/INS Navigation
• Fast and Easy Transportation/Installation/Operation
• Automatic Platform Takeoff and Parachute Landing

 

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