Page 4 - SAHA EXPO 2024 - DAY 4

INTERVIEW

“Havelsan Currently Testing

Joint Swarm Operations”

If you thought military drone swarms are systems are in operation now and in the Digital Soldier Concept
just a concept and quite a few years away inventory of the Turkish armed forces.
from becoming a reality, Havelsan has a The company began working on the digi-
surprise coming your way. “Our UAV and UGV are the only ones cur- tal troops concept a couple of years ago,
rently in the inventory of the Turkish Armed says Ünal. The concept came about from
The Turkish software and systems compa- Forces,” says Ünal. “As for unmanned sea the thought that the soldiers on the front-
ny is currently in the testing phase of joint vessels, there are a couple of them being line need to be kept as safe as possible.
swarm operations involving its VTOL and tested and in the final phase of being de- “We have heavily invested in the auton-
unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), Şevket ployed to the Turkish navy, but we have omous unmanned systems,” says Ünal.
Ünal, Company Vice President, International already delivered one of ours.” “What we do is autonomous software and
Business Development and Marketing, tells swarming technologies and secure com-
Arun Sivasankaran in an interview. Testing “Swarm technology as well as that of un- munication of these systems. Having seen
of swarm operations involving the VTOL and manned systems are maturing almost on a the harmonious and synergetic operation
its unmanned surface vehicle is expected daily basis,” says Ünal. “First applications involving the unmanned systems and the
to begin soon. have already commenced, largescale de- head office, we decided that the soldier
ployments will happen within a couple of on the frontline should be equipped with
We have done successful tests,” says Ünal. years, when people the advantages of such sensors. This would allow the headquarters
“The VTOL is used for surveillance; it iden- operations. Currently, the armed forces to see him, follow his health situation, and
tifies a suspicious object and passes on use UAVs and UGVs separately, but that support him with situational awareness.
the information to the UGV that will reach will soon change.” The most important asset is your human.
the scene and take care of it.”
Havelsan’s software and its solutions can “There are less humans in the air and on
Havelsan’s autonomous UGV line-up in- work with any platform, says Ünal. “As a the ground now, but in the end, you need
cludes Barkan, Barkan 2 and Kapgan, while software company, we are independent of humans in the frontlines. In those sce-
its Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) include the platform manufacturer. Our software is narios, you need them safe; you need to
Baha, Songar and Poyraz. The Sancar armed open platform; it can work with any UAV, follow and guide them. You also need to
autonomous surface vehicle was developed UGV and USV from any company in any get information from the field and send it
in cooperation with Yonca Shipyard. The country.” to the tactical headquarters for operational

4 OCTOBER-25-2024 WWW.GBP.COM.SG/DAILY NEWS