Turkish UAV Developments & Fielding

Aksungur delivery to Chad; it seems they'rebecoming a serious TAI customer with 3 different types of equipment already in service.

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Source:
https://video.haber7.com/video-gale...gur-cad-hava-kuvvetlerinde-boyle-goruntulendi
 
Lacy said:
I remember reading some news about when ASELFLIR-600 will be ready for testing but I can't remember the claim. Anyone knows? Was it this year?
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ASELFIR-600 or MEROPS 25inch gimbal was debuted in 2022, being tested at Aselsan's South African branch.

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I believe it's also being touted for the mid-life E/O upgrade of the S.African Rooivalk attack helicopter
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1792348729858768951
View: https://x.com/anadoluagency/status/1792348729858768951

Edit: I cannot match the satellite view of the target coordinates to the crash site photographs, but probably its just me. Camera view matches the photos though.

Edit2: It seems the target coordinates on Akinci's viewfinder does not match the actual location of its own marker. No idea why. Different projection maybe?
Coordinates shown: 38 46 04 N, 46 41 33 E
Actual coordinates of the target marker: 38 43 9 N, 46 39 18 E
 
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This is a screenshot taken from FlightRadar24 showing the route the drone took to undertake the SAR mission in Iran. They really did draw the star and crescent on the way back to Turkey. This is a great publicity coup for the Akcini UAV.

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Forest Green said:
It seems almost like Iran should have invested more in a search and rescue drone rather than Shaheds.
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Launching Shaheds basically forces your opponent to waste SAMs, and id they don't shoot it down they're basically risking valuable targets getting hit or people getting hurt. And even with a mediocre manufacturing base, you could easily produce tens of thousands of them annually.

Shaheds have a great ROI, the problem is that their MALE class drones are pure shit without any capable EO gimbal or SAR radar.

I reckon they could import Chinese subcomponents and assemble them locally, why they're not doing that truly baffles me.
 
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GeekerSeeker said:
Construction of the land based ski jump platform for tb3 take off tests continues at Kesan airport (one of Baykar's main flight test fields).

Take off tests from L400 LHD is expected to start this year after land based tests.

Before
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After
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Land-based ski-jump construction (for TB3 short take-off tests) has been completed now.

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TB3 prototype has flown to Kesan to start ski-jump tests.

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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKXZkrs2Pqo
 
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that looks too steep for a ski-ramp.
 
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Baykar is apparently planning to develop and produce their own turbofan engines for Kizilelma.

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https://twitter.com/x/status/1797210600600170615
View: https://x.com/AksanSertac/status/1797210600600170615?t=MowuAgKtsNY2vB9hUYAUCQ&s=19


I wonder how necessary this is when TEI's already testing the TF6000/10000 engine, which is intended to power Kizilelma and TAI's Anka 3.

In ~2019, IIRC, Baykar has founded a JV with Ukrspecexport to produce engines for their products but there were a lot of reports and gossips that said they were deeply unsatisfied with the Ukr side; then the War in Ukraine happened so here we are.

https://blackseashield.com/en/

Mind you, Baykar is not just a "drone company." They already produce missiles and loitering munitions and are actively developing small satellite constellations.

Selcuk Bayraktar: We aim to send 120 satellites into space by 2030 by building low orbit satellite constellations. Our goal is to build a global positioning system. Fergani also aims to develop launch vehicles to go into space.
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In short, it seems like they're moving ahead with their plans to get into the engine market.
 
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Baykar is starting to develop their own engines with USD300m investment over the next 5 years.

"Kızılelma engine will be ready ready in 4 years, Akıncı's engine will be ready in 2 years!"

"Baykar targets 12 Kızılelma to be manufactured in 2024" as LRIP, "serial production will start in 2025". 1 fighter per month at worst is impressive for LRIP! Serial production "in 2026 will have 4 fighters per month"!!!

Also also, Tb2 engine will be replaced with Baykar's in-house design BM100. They are planning to manufacture 20 of the this year.

Source: Haluk Bayraktar's interview in Capital magazine.
 

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GeekerSeeker said:
Baykar is starting to develop their own engines with USD300m investment over the next 5 years.

"Kızılelma engine will be ready ready in 4 years, Akıncı's engine will be ready in 2 years!"

"Baykar targets 12 Kızılelma to be manufactured in 2024" as LRIP, "serial production will start in 2025". 1 fighter per month at worst is impressive for LRIP! Serial production "in 2026 will have 4 fighters per month"!!!

Also also, Tb2 engine will be replaced with Baykar's in-house design BM100. They are planning to manufacture 20 of the this year.

Source: Haluk Bayraktar's interview in Capital magazine.
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In the quote he also says that they've invested a billion usd in developing Kizilelma so far.
 
Baykar currently has 4500 employees with an average age of 29 years.

- Last year they invested $250 million in R&D, with the most going to AI R&D.

- Baykar allocated $1 billion for the development of Kizilelma.

- They plan to invest at least $1.5 billion in the next 5 years.

- Production rate of TB2 is 250 per year.

- Start of mass production of TB3 in this year with at least 20 build. Increase to at least 50 build next year.

- They built 12 Akinci last year and this year they plan to build 50.

- Plan to produce at least 12 Kizilelma this year, increase it exponentially (24?) in '25 and produce 48 in '26.

- They really want to produce engines on their own. The share of the TB2 engine was not even 1 % of the total added value so it wasn't necessary. They now developed the BM100 for the TB2. TB2 flies currently 250.000 hours a year which necessitates a need for 200 spare engines per year. They plan to build 20 of these engines this year. After that they'll start mass production.

- They want to produce the engines for the Akinci and Kizilelma in 2 years and 4 years respectively in Turkiye. They started investing in this since last year. In total they plan to invest $300 million for engines in 5 years (of which 1 year has passed).

- They'll continue specializing and investing in drones, satellites and AI.
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