Turkish state-owned companies are looking for a niche in the unmanned aircraft marketWe wrote about the Turkish Akinci reconnaissance and strike drone (see "Turkish "Raiders"at the borders of Russia", "HBO" from 30.09.21).
This is not the only unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of this class created in Turkey in recent years. Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has developed and launched the Aksungur UAV series, adopted by the national Naval forces. [...]
This device did not appear from scratch, before it, the company created a whole family of various drones, the most successful of which were the Anka family machines. Active work on them was started in 2004, and the impetus for this was the refusal received from Washington to sell the MQ-1 Predator/MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance and strike UAVs.
The fact is that the Turkish military, which has been operating GNAT 750-45 reconnaissance drones since 1994 (six UAVs, one ground control station (NSO) and one mobile station for collecting and processing tactical species information), came to the conclusion that it was necessary to expand their fleet of unmanned aircraft. To this end, in 1998, the Turkish Defense Ministry acquired a couple of upgraded Improved GNAT devices and two NSOs for them, as well as many other UAVs of different classes and types.
The next step of the Turkish Armed Forces command was the decision to replenish its arsenal with strike drones. The Americans were sent a request for the supply of four MQ-1 Predator type UAVs and two improved MQ-9 Reaper type UAVs, but the US Congress did not approve this deal. As a result, Ankara made a fundamental decision to create the necessary drones on its own.
A LONG WAY TO SUCCESSThe official launch date of the MALE class UAV project (Medium-Altitude Long Endurance – medium-altitude, long flight duration) is December 24, 2004, when the corresponding contract was issued to the developer company by the Defense Industry Department of the Turkish Ministry of Defense, which oversees the creation and purchase of weapons for the national Armed Forces.
At the same time, the military decided to purchase 13 Israeli drones – 10 Heron-type vehicles from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and three Aerostar-type drones from Aeronautics Defense Systems.
Initially, the promising Turkish drone received the designation TIHA (Turk Insansız Hava Araci – "Turkish unmanned aerial vehicle"). Later, the new drone was given the name Anka – after the name of a magical bird from Turkic mythology, similar to the Phoenix bird (therefore, the name Anka is often translated as "Phoenix").
According to the initial plan, the work on the project was to be carried out in four stages: conceptual elaboration of a promising UAV; preliminary design, working design and construction, testing and evaluation of flight prototypes. Three prototypes had to be built, and the first of them was planned to be lifted into the air already in 2009.
The plans, as subsequent events showed, turned out to be too optimistic: it was possible to lift the Phoenix into the air only on December 30, 2010. Moreover, in the first flight at the 15th minute, he crashed. A similar fate befell two more of the five prototypes of the first Anka A (or Block A) series in subsequent tests.
But already in May 2013, the Anka A drone, armed with two 70-mm Cirit guided missiles suspended under the wing with "live" combat units having semi-active laser guidance, launched them at a stationary ground target. The illumination of the latter was carried out using the AselFLIR-300T station. The test was considered successful, but during it it turned out that the launch of such missiles is possible only from altitudes up to 10 thousand feet (3048 m).
Later, the Defense Industry Department issued a contract to TAI for the supply of the first batch of serial UAVs to the Turkish Air Force, which were assigned the designation Anka B (Block B). On January 30, 2015, the first of them was lifted into the air, and on October 10-14, 2016, the final acceptance tests of the new device were performed, after which these machines went to the troops.
DESIGN FEATURESThe Anka-type UAV is built according to the classical airplane scheme.
It has a high-pitched wing of great elongation, a monocoque fuselage and a V-shaped tail. The structures are made mainly of composites. There is a modern electric pulse de-icing system and a flight control system with double redundancy. The propeller is a pushing three–bladed. The landing gear is tricycle, all struts are retracted back in flight into niches in the fuselage.
Initially, a Thielert Centurion 2.0S (CD-155) diesel engine with a capacity of 155 hp was installed on the drone. Then nine drones – probably of the Anka type – were equipped with upgraded PD155 engines supplied by the Turkish company Tusas Engine Industries (TEI, part of TAI). But since 2018, a PD170 turbocharged diesel engine with a capacity of 170 hp, developed by TEI specialists, has been installed on UAVs of this family. The first flight with the new Anka B drone engine with onboard No. 17-025 took place in December 2018.
Weapons MAM and MAM-L apply with aircraft firms TAI and Baykar. Photo Of Vladimir Karnozov
In a constructive manner UAV type Anka in much the same class Watchkeeper WK450 developed in the interests of the British military company UAS Tactical Systems (U-TacS; a joint venture of the Israeli Elbit and Thales UK British). As the basis for, in turn, served as the Hermes 450 UAV, developed by Elbit. The main differences between box and not the cylindrical shape of the fuselage and the location of the primary air intake from above, not from below (bottom – exhaust pipes of the engine).
As payload UAV type Anka got a new vision system high resolution, including opto-electronic and infrared cameras, laser rangefinder, designator and small-sized radar (SAR) synthetic aperture. According to some, the "Phoenix" is also applied to the radar with inverse synthetic aperture (ISAR), which allows to obtain a two-dimensional image of the target with high resolution. The drone is also equipped with a satellite system, protected by the data transmission system and on-Board digital computing machine Turkish development.
The device has the ability to fly under the control of the operator (for this is ground control station for two people – a pilot and payload operator, equipped with six large and six smaller screens) and in offline mode – without operator intervention. In the latter mode can be take-off and landing of the drone, this is ensured by the control system with dual redundancy.
MODERNIZATION
Task modification drone Anka B – monitoring and reconnaissance, detection, classification and tracking, data output targeting their weapons, work as a relay communication, etc. Although potentially the device can carry two underwing nodes of the external suspension four guided aerial bombs of the type of MAM-L – two on each of the ejection devices (MAM – from Mini Akilli Muhimmat "smart mini-ammunition", and L – laser guided).
The development of this family of drones began reconnaissance and strike drone Anka S. It was test flown on 5 December 2015 and looks different from its predecessor in a modified wing, and especially the fuselage with the bow characterized influx under which the equipment is located satellite communication system. After that, the Turkish unit in the exterior was very similar to the Israeli Hermes 900 UAV.
But the most significant difference between the new modification was the possibility of using controlled aircraft weapons: on the first successful firing tests, it was announced in August 2018. The use of weapons provided by a dual system of observation and aiming CATS (Common Aperture Targeting System, "aiming system with shared aperture") with optical and infrared channels, and a built-in laser rangefinder-designator. The system is designed and manufactured by the Turkish company Aselsan.
Currently, it is known that the drones can apply equipped with semi-active laser guidance system guided aerial bombs MAM-L, developed by the Turkish company Rocketsan and is able to destroy manpower, armored vehicles, and the engineering and fortification infrastructure. The caliber of the ammunition – 160 mm, length 1000 mm, weight – 21.5 kg. There are several types of combat units – high-explosive, armor-piercing (can punch up to 700 mm homogeneous armor), temperature and pressure. Range up to 8 km, the accuracy is not worse than 3 m. the Drone can carry on underwing hardpoints, two such weapons.
Apparently, the Phoenix is able to take on Board anti-tank guided missiles (not officially confirmed); multi-purpose missile MAM-C with semi-active laser guidance established by the Turkish specialists on the basis of the 70-mm rockets and are capable of ranges up to 8 km to destroy manpower and lightly armored vehicles of the enemy with an accuracy of 3 m, and 70-mm guided missile Cirit.
According to data from open sources, the Anka S type drone has the following tactical and technical characteristics: length - 8.6 m, height – 3.25 m, wingspan – 17.5 m (Anka B – 17.3 m), empty weight – 1380 kg, maximum take–off weight – 1680 kg, payload weight – up to 250 kg (Anka B – up to 200 kg), maximum flight speed – 218 km / h, cruising flight speed – about 200 km / h, flight duration with a payload of 250 kg – at least 24 hours (according to some reports, with a minimum load, the UAV can stay in the air for up to 32 hours, and with a full with a load of 18 hours), the practical ceiling is about 9 km, the combat range when using radio control is at least 250 km, the maximum flight range is about 1400 km.
We should add that when using a satellite communication system, the combat radius of the drone increases significantly – the first successful test of this control method took place in June 2017. Moreover, according to Turkish sources, through a satellite communication system, the control center can simultaneously monitor the actions of six Anka S-type UAVs in the air.
SUPPLIES TO THE TROOPSToday it is known about the contract for the supply of three unmanned aircraft systems consisting of 10 Anka S drones, 12 ground control stations and the necessary number of automated take–off and landing systems with appropriate radar equipment - in order to simultaneously base new drones at two different bases of the Turkish Air Force.
The contract worth $290 million was signed on October 25, 2013, and Aselsan accounted for $33.6 million – the supply of 10 CATS systems and various avionics, including inertial and satellite navigation units (INS/GPS) and radio communication equipment. The contract was fully executed in January 2019, when the Turkish Air Force received the 9th and 10th vehicles (another drone, a flight prototype, is at the disposal of the developer company). Moreover, these machines, unlike all the previous ones, were already equipped with Canadian CMX-15D (L3 Wescam) systems, and not Turkish CATS.
According to data from open sources, the Turkish Air Force, Navy and gendarmerie have already supplied about fifty drones of the Anka family of all modifications, which have flown for more than 100 thousand hours. A number of such drones (probably all of the Anka S type) were lost during military operations in the Middle East (in particular, in Syria) and in Libya. In addition, it has been officially confirmed that Anka S-type drones are being delivered to Tunisia: the contract was signed in March 2020 and provides for the transfer of three drones and three NSOs, and its cost is estimated at $ 80 million. The first Phoenix with a Tunisian residence permit was declared combat ready on November 13, 2021.
In March 2018, it was reported that the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (Milli Istihbarat Teskilati – MIT) received an Anka I type drone at its disposal, which is equipped with modern electronic and electronic intelligence systems (ELINT/COMINT). The device was developed by TAI and Aselsan companies and became the first Turkish UAV specifically designed for conducting such reconnaissance – and, apparently, solving electronic warfare problems.
Externally, this sample is well distinguishable by the multitude of antennas located below, as well as by the presence of containers with special equipment on the sides of the fuselage in front of the wing. Apparently, such a drone is still available in a single copy.
The captured Baykar Bayraktar TB2 drone was captured in Ukraine and is now on display at the Kubinka Museum. Photo by Vladimir Karnozov A NEW LINK IN THE EVOLUTION OF DRONES
After the successful transfer of the Anka UAV to the stage of serial production, TAI Company, within the framework of the YFYK project (Yuksek Faydali Yuk Kapasiteli – "large payload"), on an initiative basis, developed a new, larger and roomy UAV, which received the designation Aksungur ("Gyrfalcon", variants Anka-Aksungur and Anka-2 are also used).
On October 18, 2017, a meeting was held at which the requirements for a promising drone were considered, on February 13, 2018, the preliminary draft was defended, and on June 20, the working draft was defended. On March 20, 2019, the Aksungur type UAV flight prototype successfully made its first flight.
On September 1, 2020, the drone set a record for the longest flight – it lasted 49 hours in the air . And nine days later, the drone was tested for the ability to use heavy weapons: during the next test flight, a controlled TEBER-82 laser-guided aerial bomb was dropped from it. The latter is a 227 kg Mk82 free–falling aerial bomb turned into a "smart" bomb using the TEBER (Laser Guidance Kit – LGK) kit. Today it is the most powerful tool in the arsenal of the new drone.
And in the same month, the company announced that Aksungur for the first time performed a long – about 28 hours – test flight with a full combat load, which included 12 adjustable MAM-L bombs (two on each of the six external suspension units). The flight, which took place at an altitude of 20 thousand feet (6096 m), was considered successful.
In April 2019, the new UAV was presented in an open exhibition at the International Defense Industry Fair in Istanbul. It aroused quite a high interest among experts and generally received a positive assessment.
Serial assembly of Aksungur-type drones was started by TAI in May 2020, and on October 20, 2021, the Turkish Navy received its first car, which, apparently, was determined by the main operator of these drones (the Turkish Air Force, as noted by the author in a previous article, is equipped with Akinci-type drones of a similar class). As of February 2022, the Navy has received five serial UAVs of this type, and the total number of assembled devices, apparently, does not exceed ten.
DESIGN AND ARMAMENTUnlike the Anka family of UAVs, the new drone is made according to a two-beam scheme and has a characteristic hump in the nose, under which the satellite communication system equipment is located.
Outwardly, it resembles the drones of the Heron – Eithan line of IAI, but it is larger and heavier than the first (3,300 kg vs. 1,200), and smaller and lighter than the second (5,400 kg). In addition, its power plant is organized differently: if Heron and Eithan have an engine powered by one pusher propeller located in the rear of the fuselage, then Aksungur has two engines with pulling three-bladed screws installed in the wing – one on each side of the fuselage.
As engines on this drone, the above-mentioned PD170 turbocharged diesel engines with a capacity of 170 hp were used. The first flight prototype of this UAV became the first aircraft to fly with this engine. But over time, serial vehicles are planned to be equipped with more powerful PD222 turbodiesel engines with a take-off capacity of 220 hp, developed by TEI based on the PD170 together with American General Electric. Aksungur is also equipped with an on-board power supply system with double redundancy.
The flight and target load control system installed on this UAV allows you to fly both by operator commands (an NSU is used, similar to the one used for the Anka family of UAVs) and in completely autonomous mode. At the same time, the automatic flight control system and the automatic take-off and landing system have double redundancy.
A secure digital data exchange line, which provides encryption of the transmitted data, also has double redundancy. In addition, the developer has provided for the possibility of installing an electric pulse de-icing system.
The landing gear is tricycle, the nose strut retracts back in flight into a niche in the fuselage, and the main struts – back in flight into niches in the nacelles.
The main distinguishing feature of the new drone is that it was developed from the very beginning as a reconnaissance and strike, capable of using a fairly wide range of various aircraft weapons: six underwing suspension units can accommodate weapons with a total weight of up to 750 kg.
Among the permitted means of destruction in the materials of the developer company are indicated: UAB with laser guidance TEBER-81 (based on Mk81) and TEBER-82 (based on Mk82), UAB of small caliber SDB (Small Diameter Bomb – "small caliber aerial bomb"), anti-tank guided missiles with laser guidance L–UMTAS (UMTAS - from Uzun Menzilli Tanksavar Sistemi – "large anti-tank system although its maximum range is only 8 km), the above-mentioned corrected MAM-L aerial bombs and 70 mm MAM-C and Cirit missiles, as well as guided aerial bombs equipped with HGK-3 kits (laser, satellite and inertial guidance, developer – TUBITAK SAGE, manufacturer – Aselsan) and KGK (mounted "winged" unit and satellite/inertial guidance system, the developer and manufacturer are the same).
Note that TUBITAK SAGE is usually characterized as a "company", but in fact, this name hides the Ankara-based Defense Industry Research Institute (Savunma Sanayii Arastirma ve Gelistirme Enstitusu – SAGE). Organizationally, it is part of the management circuit of the Council for Scientific and Technical Research of Turkey (Turkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu - TUBITAK).
THE MAIN DIFFERENCE IS MULTITASKINGThe main flight technical characteristics of the Aksungur type reconnaissance and strike UAV look like this: maximum length - 11.6 m, height - 3 m, wingspan – 24 m, empty vehicle weight – about 1.8 thousand kg, maximum take–off weight – 3.3 thousand kg, maximum payload weight – 750 kg, practical ceiling – 12.2 thousand meters, power plant – two turbocharged PD170 diesel engines with a capacity of 170 hp each (in the future – two PD222 turbodiesels with a take-off capacity of 220 hp each.
), cruising flight speed – 180 km / h, duration of flight with full combat load in the variant of a marine patrol or strike UAV – 12 hours at an altitude of 25 thousand feet (7620 m), duration of flight with a payload of 150 kg in the variant of a reconnaissance UAV (SIGINT variant) - 24 hours at an altitude of 40 thousand feet (7620 m), duration of flight with a payload of 150 kg in the variant of a reconnaissance UAV (SIGINT variant) – 24 hours at an altitude of 40 thousand feet. feet (12 192 m).
Due to the principle of open architecture, which was widely used by the developer during the creation of the Aksungur type UAV, the latter can carry sets of specialized equipment for various purposes:
– species reconnaissance (IMINT) – a combined system with optical and infrared channels and a laser rangefinder-designator (EO/IR/LD/LRF Camera), a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) or a reverse aperture synthesis radar (ISAR) with an indication sensor (selection) of ground moving targets (GMTI), and also wide-area surveillance system (Wide Area Surveillance Camera);
– radio engineering intelligence (SIGINT) – systems for various purposes, such as a communications intelligence station with the ability to determine their location, an electronic support station, an electronic intelligence station, etc.;
– patrolling and exploration of marine areas – radar with synthesized aperture or radar with reverse aperture synthesis with a sensor for selecting surface moving targets, an automatic identification system of ships (AIS – Automatic Identification System), two containers of dropped radio hydroacoustic buoys (one under each wing console) and a magnetometer;
– a complex of communication and data transmission facilities – a satellite communication station (presumably, Turkish satellites of the TURKSAT system are used), radio communication and retransmission facilities of various bands (V/UHF), a personnel location detection and control system (Personnel Locating System), as well as an on-board UAV communication system node in a block container.
All this fully satisfies the requirements that the Turkish Navy imposed on the drone, and also allows us to talk about the high export potential of this drone in the international aviation market.
The combat potential of the UAV we are considering can be assessed at least by such an example. According to the information published by the Turkish Defense Industry Directorate (Savunma Sanayii Baskanligina – SSB), in April 2021, an Aksungur-type UAV during tests using an 82 kg guided aerial bomb equipped with a KGK kit (model KGK-SIHA-30) successfully hit a training target located at a range of about 340 km.
Well, ahead of TAI specialists is the solution of a much more ambitious task: the creation of a 3.5–ton unmanned fighter capable of carrying up to a ton of weapons and so far called Goksungur. In the near future, as they say, this "inhuman predator" will be able to take to the sky. Although such statements, given the complexity of the task, seem to us too optimistic.
Vladimir Shcherbakov
Deputy Executive Editor of HBOVladimir Leonidovich Shcherbakov is a military expert, historian, and writer.
