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They (at least Poland) could develop their own EW suite with Turkish help/input/suggestions.
Turkey Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
They have a winner in the Aksungur. The platform can be enlarged and with more powerful engines (e.g. AL-450 or AL-450T as in Akinci), it can be turned into a truly heavy SIGINT/MPA/ASW platform that can compete with the EuroMALE, Heron TP and RQ-4
The Aksungur has more room for growth into various specialized versions compared to the Akinci, but the Akinci has a higher speed potential, altitude, air-to-air avionics and weapons carrying capability because of the its inherent design. The Akinci is also classified by Baykar as more of an attack UAV (taarruz).
Fitting AL-450 on the Aksungur will probably endanger the airframe while the Akinci can carry improved versions of the AL-450 with 750hp easily. And there have been more powerful MS-500V-S engines under test at Baykar:
The engine on the right:
Endurance as range/fuel consumption rate?
Basically, yes. Diesels are heavier than turboprops for the same output, but also much more efficient. For low-speed aircraft with long loiter duration requirements, the saving in fuel weight will typically more than compensate. As a result you get more payload for the same time on station or longer endurance with the same load. Compare Akinci to the similarly-sized Russian Altius-M.
I'd cut TAI some slack here - as a state-owned enterprise they were obviously operating under a political mandate to maximize indigenous content. Therefore they sought to use a Turkish engine, Turkish EO turret and so on at entry into service. That significantly increased overall risk, and some of that caught up to them - not surprising. Baykar on the other hand simply bought proven components (Rotax engine, Wescam EO) off the shelf from experienced international suppliers, and consequently enjoyed a smoother ride. Now they are incorporating more Turkish systems, but many of these owe their relative maturity (and possibly their very existence) to TAI ironing out the kinks on Anka. It's an unfair comparison.
I'm not so sure about that.
The Anka-A/B and even some S use the Thielert Centurion 2.0S, the PD-155/170 came only later on.
Besides the Aselflir-300T, the Anka has flown with MX-15's and Safir-380HD's
I'm not so sure how a foreign EO turret contributes to a smoother development. And the engines were from foreign origin on the Anka, until recently.
Again, I'm not so sure of that.
A state owned and funded institution failed where a brilliant MIT student succeeded who started in a garage designing UAV's. It's thanks to the TB-2 that Turkish foreign policy could to be upheld in Syria, Libya and in Azerbaijan. The Anka with their relatively high price and low-rate of production would not have accomplished what the TB-2 has accomplished. A small, tactical and relatively cheap UAV beat a bigger, strategic and more expensive UAV.
Like I said, it seems TAI is picking up pace in their UAV department. Now with various UAV designs coming online in Turkey, the Anka is becoming redundant by more capable platforms. It's not a surprise to me that the Turkish government requested that some Anka production slots to be converted into Aksungurs.
Keep using foreign components? But I don't know if that was the issue of its unsuccessful career. TAI is tight-lipped about it.
Mostly COTS non-critical components, which has currently improved to a 93% indigenous rate. Whereas Baykar has been very open through their excellent PR, TAI is tight-lipped about the contents of their UAV's. We don't know where a lot of the Anka's systems come from.
The Anka started to become redundant as soon as the TB-2 came online, especially with the TB-2S with added SATCOM, the Aksungur, Akinci and finally the TB-3 where the nails in the Anka coffin. Bar some export succes here and some niche ELINT variant there, I would consider the Anka a failure while at the same time acknowledge its importance as a predecessor and technology validator for the Aksungur. The Anka is a crucial step in the TAI UAV development, it just wasn't as successful as it should've been.
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That might have helped, but then both TAI and Baykar would still be stuck with imported components - I'm not sure that is politically desirable.
I don't know about that... it seemed that the info trickled out not from Baykar so much as suppliers (when they announced embargoes) and the occasional wreckage of a shoot-down.
Both had their roles to play in the Turkish UAV programme and, by and large, succeeded.