Turkey Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

sequ

sequ

Captain
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"We are determined to show our experience and success in unmanned systems in air vehicles, also in sea and land vehicles.

Our prototype racing activities, which we started within the framework of our Medium Class 1st Level Unmanned Ground Vehicle Project, continue.

After the inspection and mobility tests of SGAs produced by Aselsan, Best Grup, Elektroland and Havelsan, firing tests were also carried out with the 7.62 mm weapon system.

After the autonomy and performance tests, we will complete our prototype race next month."
 
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schrage musik

Junior Member
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BoraTas said:
The Aksungur is definitely more useful in recon role. I doubt the extra speed of Akinci makes it more survivable. Both are slow and very vulnerable if their electronic countermeasures are defeated. Akinci is an interesting project indeed. It is like the Reaper but it also has a lot of extra features like AESA radar, air-to-air engagement and cruise missile launching capability. I think the real purpose of Akinci is conserving the lifespan of the F-16s in the plethora of low-intensity warfare Turkey currently participates in.
Also, I think the diversity of drones in the Turkish arsenal is very impressive. Turkey currently fields 2 different indigenous kamikaze drones (Kargu, Alpagu), 3 mini recon UAVs (Bayraktar Mini, Gözcü, Togan), 2 MALE (TB-2, Anka), 2 HALE (Aksungur, Akinci). There are others in development too such as Saka (Micro UAV), Kargı (Large Kamikaze), MIUS and Göksungur (Jet powered), Songar (Mini UAV with a machine gun) and TB-3. There are also a few more I didn't list because of their current lack of prospects. Turkey simply blows away everyone except the USA and China in the diversity of military UAVs
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Of course the faster speed doesnt make it survivable. But it is still an advantage as the Akinci will have reduced sensor-shooter delay, allowing it to react to time critical targets faster, and a single Akinci will also be able to cover a larger geographical footprint. The Akinci is also built to carry heavy ordnance, like the 500 lb KGK-82 and the larger MK-83 derived variant. In this respect the Akinci is better as an armed drone.

However, while every drone you listed is optimized for a certain role, it is the Aksungur that is most suitable for use as a surveillance platform, and will therefore be the ideal starting point for a larger twin turboprop drone.

On a related note, while the range of drones Turkey has is impressive, I think there are a bunch of major types missing that I'd like to see:
  1. A Black Hornet/ Black Hornet Nano type pocket reconnaissance system
  2. A Global Hawk/BAMS type HALE jet powered reconaissance system
  3. A jet powered long range loyal wingman like the Boeing ATS or XQ-58 Valkyrie
  4. A-160 Hummingbird type high altitude/high endurance rotary wing system
  5. Kaman K-MAX type unmanned high altitude cargo lifter
  6. MALD type expendable autonomous EA/EW drone/cruise missile
  7. Gremlins type Reusable air launched recoverable drone/cruise missile
 
sequ

sequ

Captain
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schrage musik said:
a larger twin turboprop drone
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What is the need for that though? Surveillance wise there would be no need between an Aksungur with extra surveillance systems and a potential Turkish Global Hawk. A turboprop Aksungur is the Akinci which in turn will make it unnecessary.

A Turkish Global Hawk equivalent with a 6000lb+ turbofan will be a much better surveillance platform.
 
sequ

sequ

Captain
Registered Member
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409754426454257664
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409753979777699843
TAI and Ukrainian “Motor Sich” firm signed a contract for Heavy Class Tarruz Helicopter engine.

Within the scope of the agreement with the Ukrainian company "Motor Sich", 14 engines will be supplied and the flight of the Heavy Class Attack Helicopter will be carried out in 2023.

The first delivery of the engines is planned for September 2022, as 2 units.

Temel Kotil, General Manager of @TUSAS_TR:

"As TAI, we will make an ambitious entry to 2023 in the 100th year of our Republic. It will be a year in which almost all of our projects will take flight."
 
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schrage musik

Junior Member
Registered Member
sequ said:
What is the need for that though? Surveillance wise there would be no need between an Aksungur with extra surveillance systems and a potential Turkish Global Hawk. A turboprop Aksungur is the Akinci which in turn will make it unnecessary.

A Turkish Global Hawk equivalent with a 6000lb+ turbofan will be a much better surveillance platform.
Click to expand...
sequ said:
What is the need for that though? Surveillance wise there would be no need between an Aksungur with extra surveillance systems and a potential Turkish Global Hawk. A turboprop Aksungur is the Akinci which in turn will make it unnecessary.

A Turkish Global Hawk equivalent with a 6000lb+ turbofan will be a much better surveillance platform.
Click to expand...

As I explained in my previous posts, I am of the view that an enlarged Aksungur design using the same engines that the Akinci is slated to use (AL-450 series) can yield a significantly larger and more capable platform than the Akinci. Such a drone can rival or even exceed the range/payload performance of Heron TP or even the stillborn EuroMALE.

Sure they can take the other route and develop a Global Hawk sized jet powered drone. But jet powered drones is unknown territory for both TAI and Bayraktar. It will be faster, cheaper and less risky to use the experience already accumulated with the Aksungur/Akinci and come up with a turboprop powered HALE platform. There will be a lot more commonality with subsystems, also driving down costs and risks.

A twin turboprop on a drone that has to regularly fly 24+ hours will be safer to operate than a single jet engine, and generally speaking turboprops are also less maintenance intensive and more fuel efficient than jet engines at low speeds.
 
sequ

sequ

Captain
Registered Member
Aselsan introduces a new electro-optical turret for surveillance and reconnaissance. No targeting capability though. This electro-optical turret has superior MWIR resolution than the CATS at 1024x768. 1280x720 MWIR/SWIR is going to be integrated next year into a different system, the Aselflir-F500C.

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