Page 16 - SAHA EXPO 2024 - DAY 2

ANKA-III UCAV Strikes Target

with Aselsan’s Tolun Guided Munition

Turkish Aerospace which is developing
the ANKA-III Unmanned Combat Aerial
Vehicle (UCAV) and Aselsan have success-
fully completed an important milestone
related to weapons integration. Just pri-
or to the commencement of SAHA Expo,
Turkish Aerospace announced that a Tolun
Precision Guided Munition (PGM) fired
from an ANKA-III had successfully struck
a target. According to Turkish Aerospace,
the ANKA-III achieved the direct hit on the
target from 20,000 feet at a speed of 180
knots. Aselsan’s Tolun is an integrated GPS/
INS guided munition that can be launched
from an air platform via a Multi-Carrier-Shell
(MTS) and used against hard and soft land
targets. It has a range of 102 km and the
warhead can drill through 1 meter of rein-
forced concrete.

“We proved our local and na-
tional power once again with a
task that required high sensitiv-
ity. We will continue to take our
technology to the top with de-
termination and perseverance,”
Dr Mehmet Demiroğlu, General Manager,
Turkish Aerospace said. “We watched this special mo- some additional fine-tuning of
ment that took place in Konya various aspects of the platform
Karapınar online from Istanbul and then we will look to start
Teknopark. I heartily congratu- series production.” He added, “We
late the entire team. To many are looking to have at least two flying pro-

more successes!” Prof. Dr. Haluk totypes, maybe more depending on the
need. The trials could take six months to
Görgün, President of the Defence Industry a year. There is interest in the programme
Agency (SSB), said.
from potential export customers, but it is
The ANKA-III UCAV successfully complet- still too early to talk about exports.
ed its maiden flight in December 2023
and according to Dr Mehmet Demiroğlu, The ANKA-III UCAV has lower radar visibility
“The Anka III is being designed thanks to its flying-wing configuration, the
primarily to meet the needs of high speed provided by the turbofan engine,
and the high carrying capacity of the inter-
the Turkish Air Force. We are nal stations, will significantly strengthen
pretty much where we want to the country’s defence. The stealth drone is
be in terms of the programme designed to operate at 40,000 feet, reach a

schedule, in fact, I would say speed of Mach 0.7, and stay airborne for up
to 10 hours, with a take-off weight of approx-
we are ahead of schedule. We imately seven tonne. The ANKA-III builds on
require to perform some flight Turkish Aerospace’s engineering expertise
Dr Mehmet Demiroğlu, testing along with the air force, and over 250,000 hours of flight experience
gained with ANKA and Aksungur.
General Manager, Turkish Aerospace

16 OCTOBER-23-2024 WWW.GBP.COM.SG/DAILY NEWS