Advancements and Deployment of Turkish UAVs: A Strategic Overview

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With Turkey set to become one of the largest operators of UAVs, I think it's suitable to open up a thread which records development and fielding of the UAVs.

Two major companies developing UAVs in Turkey;
Baykar Makina
Turkish Aerospace Industries

Baykar Makina

Bayraktar TB2 - Tactical Drone - ISAR 24hr endurance
bayraktar_tb2.png
Akinci (Raider) - Combat Drone - ISAR 24hr endurance
akinci_render.png
Turkish Aerospace Industries
Anka - Medium Altitude Long Endurance - ISAR 24hr endurance
anka-slider.png
Aksungur - High Altitude Long Endurance - ISAR 49hr endurance
aksungur.png
 
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Akinci (Raider) is being developed with concept of being a combat drone, as such Aselsan has been tasked with developing the multi-purpose radar.
From the picture below we are able to gather that a mechanical phased array radar is being developed in the first phase with the development expanding further into an AESA radar in phase II.
EEq0WU0WkAE-_hC.jpg
 
Turkey’s Drone Blitz Over Idlib
Between February 27 and March 5, Turkey conducted Operation Spring Shield to halt the Syrian Arab Army’s blitz offensive in Idlib and to press Moscow into brokering a ceasefire. Due to the grave risks involved in operating in the Syrian airspace, Turkish military planners opted for using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as the principal airpower asset. While the Turkish Armed Forces scored a large number of kills on the Baathist regime’s combat units, the unmanned systems’ success in eliminating Syria’s Russian-manufactured surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems deserve the utmost attention. Within a week, Turkey’s UAVs destroyed a total of eight Pantsir and Buk air defenses (Yeni Safak, March 4).
Full story -
jamestown.org

Turkey’s Drone Blitz Over Idlib

Between February 27 and March 5, Turkey conducted Operation Spring Shield to halt the Syrian Arab Army’s blitz offensive in Idlib and to press Moscow into brokering a ceasefire. Due to the grave risks involved in operating in the Syrian airspace, Turkish military planners opted for using...
jamestown.org jamestown.org

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzB5Vip5Wpc
 
Bombardier suspends delivery of aircraft engines used on military drones - ROTAX 912 are used on TB2 UCAV
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Must say, Turkey did well to run domestic projects in parallel with foreign off the shelf purchases - seems Turkey succeeding in its defence and defence of it's allies has countries worried. :)

Aselsan CATS and TEI PG115 are sure to replace systems that are being with held from purchase.

WESCAM CMX-15D < ASELSAN CATS
ROTAX 912 < TEI PG115 (which is closer to Rotax 914 in specs)

cats-seri.jpg unnamed.jpg
 

Turkish company reveals plans to develop a supersonic drone​

According to Temel Kotil, TAI’s chief executive official, the Goksungur (“peregrine falcon” in English) will be a supersonic version of the Aksungur. The Goksungur is set to have a maximum speed of 380 kph.

www.defensenews.com

Turkish company reveals plans to develop a supersonic drone

The Goksungur is set to have a maximum speed of 380 kph.
www.defensenews.com www.defensenews.com
 
Combat-Master said:
Canada early this year Month suspended sales of WESCAM CMX-15D E/O turrets to Turkey - WESCAM CMX-15D are used on TB2 UCAV drones.View attachment 642839
Click to expand...

Turkey moved onto their domestic E/O, ASELSAN CATS. Here, Azerbaijan operating TB2 UCAV equipped with Aselsan CATS to target Armenian Military Vehicle. - Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
IuDJIJRZsiFmK4iJ.gif
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Gonna post this here, Turkey is also working on unmanned surface vehicles - Here is a collaborative project from; Meteksan and ARES Shipyard

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XA_LgN_KMk&t=0s

Ulaq SIDA

Length:11m
Speed:65km/h
Range:400km
Payload: 2000kg
Lanching to sea: Decmber 2020


ULAQ SIDA

Various configurations of this vehicle will be developed with Mine-Sweeping and Electronic Warfare Variants.

032f96f7-ee21-4219-c271-00526956935f.png

Intelligence gathering and jamming variant
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Anti-Surface Warfare Variant
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Bayraktar TB2 belonging to the General Directorate of Security (Aviation Branch) was specially painted with a "nose back - shark" design. This design was made by Ömer Erkmen. Ömer Erkmen also stated that different AUAVs will be painted with different designs to nose art.

El_zjtHXgAEz222.jpg El_zkFuWkAAI8oR.jpg El_zkVIWkAEjneI.jpg
 
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Combat-Master said:
Combat-Master said:
Canada early this year Month suspended sales of WESCAM CMX-15D E/O turrets to Turkey - WESCAM CMX-15D are used on TB2 UCAV drones.View attachment 642839
Click to expand...

Turkey moved onto their domestic E/O, ASELSAN CATS. Here, Azerbaijan operating TB2 UCAV equipped with Aselsan CATS to target Armenian Military Vehicle. - Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
View attachment 643079
View attachment 643080
Click to expand...
Aselsan CATS E/O - ROKETSAN MAM-L SAL Munition | Foreign embargoes aren't stopping Turkey.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqFGXVgysss
 
That list is... inaccurate. Some of those claimed losses are not confirmed at all (the Tors, for instance), others - such as the S-300'P *components* - were actually destroyed by other means (mostly Harop loitering munitions, specifically).

There's no doubt that the TB2 (and its likely Turkish operators) are making a huge difference to the Azerbaijani war effort, but let's keep to the facts.
 
Trident said:
That list is... inaccurate. Some of those claimed losses are not confirmed at all (the Tors, for instance), others - such as the S-300'P *components* - were actually destroyed by other means (mostly Harop loitering munitions, specifically).

There's no doubt that the TB2 (and its likely Turkish operators) are making a huge difference to the Azerbaijani war effort, but let's keep to the facts.
Click to expand...
TOR M2KM targeted by TB2 UCAV and destroyed by HAROP and follow on strikes; whether or not TB2 destroys it or not HAROPs are ineffective without precise location verification that the TB2 provides.
BTW TOR M2KM is clearly operational as TB2 flew within visual range of it.
https://twitter.com/x/status/1325810330069475329
View: https://twitter.com/wwwmodgovaz/status/1325810330069475329?s=20

I don't understand why you'd think Turkish operators are at the helm of the TB2 UCAV. How difficult would it be to train recruits on how to use drones effectively.
 
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ANKA integrated with SIMSEK high speed target drones - This image was taken in Azerbaijan before the NK conflict broke.

Likely use scenario;
- Testing of air-to-air missiles at high altitude
- Provoking reaction from adversaries air-defence systems with fake targets to locate them
tusastan-ankaya-simsek-hedef-ucak-sistemi-entegrasyonu.jpg

simsek.png

ŞİMŞEK System, indigenously designed and produced by TAI, general features:

  • 45 minutes of endurance
  • Max. Speed 400 kts
  • Mission altitude between 1000ft (350m) to 15000 feet (4500 m) (ASL)
  • 50 km LOS Data Link Range with GCS
  • Catapulte launch
  • Parachute recovery on land or at sea
  • Ability to take-off and control from Navy platforms
  • Structure manufactured with advanced composite technology
  • Compatible with military standards
  • Full autonomous flight mode with Waypoint / Heading / Speed / Altitude hold modes including take-off and landing with indigenous "GCS Flight Control System" and "Autopilot System"
  • Preprogrammed flight ability to assign waypoints and change during / before flight
  • Return Home & Fail Safe Modes for automatic recovery to a predefined return home point
  • Record and playback of real-time coded digital flight data telemetry
  • Ability to recognize and load digital maps
Payloads:

  • Passive Radar Cross Section Augmenter - Luneberg Lens
Additional Payload Integration Activities:

  • MDI
  • CMDS
  • Smoke Generator
  • Radar Altimeter
 
Combat-Master said:
TOR M2KM targeted by TB2 UCAV and destroyed by HAROP and follow on strikes; whether or not TB2 destroys it or not HAROPs are ineffective without precise location verification that the TB2 provides.
Click to expand...

That's clearly a Tor (singular!), but the footage was released more than 12 hours after both our posts. Where are those (yes, plural!) which have been claimed since early October by various sources?

Interesting that they hit the shelter that it was driven into three times - they were clearly a lot more worried about that one Tor than all the sundry Osas and Kubs to date! Seems to have been a dedicated "ambush" set up, rather than a target of opportunity and the use of Harop indicates the TB2 may have been considered too vulnerable to close within MAM-L range. It seems plausible to assume that the two TB2s lost so far were taken out by Tors, which would warrant that kind of strong reaction, given the importance of TB2 operations to Azerbaijan's forces.

Just goes to show, you can overcome any air defence if only you commit enough resources and effort, but this price varies dramatically depending on the quality of the SAM system. That single Tor tied up a lot of assets that were unavailable for other purposes.

Combat-Master said:
I don't understand why you'd think Turkish operators are at the helm of the TB2 UCAV. How difficult would it be to train recruits on how to use drones effectively.
Click to expand...

Azerbaijan announced the decision to purchase TB2s in late June 2020 and first took delivery in July. Do you believe it is possible to train operators sufficiently for them to participate in a shooting war within the 8-10 week period before the current conflict started? That seems scarcely credible to me. By now there may well be Azerbaijani crew members contributing, but I expect Turkish personnel conducted the majority of the strikes early on (and probably continue to have a role).
 
There did seem to be what looked like a satcom dish in the wreckage of the first TB2 downed by Armenia, IIRC.

On many UAVs the satcom dome looks vaguely like a cockpit canopy, but on this one the resemblance is particularly uncanny! If there were no other objects in the photo to provide scale, you might be pardoned for thinking it was a (wind tunnel) model of a manned aircraft.

Is the satcom equipment domestically sourced already or is that step still pending?
 
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Satellites by Country or Organization - Turkey

This page is listing the satellites. Select any satellite listed to learn additional details, perform live tracking or see satellite's passes visible from your location
www.n2yo.com
 
There are two choices C2Tech or Aselsan for UAV SATCOM terminals
C2Tech tested small diameter 17kg 10Mbps Ku-Band or Ka-Band SATCOM in 2018
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAceLgh1jjs


Türksat 6A is a Turkish communications satellite under construction, which will be developed and produced indigenously to be operated by Türksat. This satellite will be Turkey's first fully domestically-produced communications satellite, and is expected to be completed by 2020 and launched in 2022.
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British Air Marshal Michael Wigston and the accompanying delegation visited TAI facilities and received information on AKSUNGUR UCAV and other projects

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Is there any indication as to what the production rate of TB2 might have been throughout this year, 2020?
 
totoro said:
Is there any indication as to what the production rate of TB2 might have been throughout this year, 2020?
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Baykar Makina General Manager some time back stated that the production rate of the TB2 was one per week. He said this after Operation Spring Shield when TB2 were deployed to halt the Syrian Arab Army’s offensive in Idlib. - this was back in April this year.
 
 

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