Turkey Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

siegecrossbow said:

Are those stealth target drones in the bottom?

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They just mentioned they were high-speed. They likely have some signature reduction measures too. There will be decoy, EW and loitering munition variants

Unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturer Baykar exhibited the mini smart cruise missile BAYRAKTAR KEMANKES for the first time as part of the festival.

Baykar Platform Engineering Team Leader Burak Özbek told Anadolu Agency (AA) that BAYRAKTAR KEMANKEŞ was developed to increase its offensive capability against strategic targets with Bayraktar TB2. Özbek stated that the missile can be integrated with Bayraktar TB2 as well as all other unmanned aerial vehicles they have developed.

Informing that the missile got its name from the archers who hit their targets in the most challenging conditions, Özbek said, "We named it KEMANKEŞ because we will achieve the same hit with our mini cruise missile." said.

Referring to the advantages that BAYRAKTAR KEMANKES will provide on the battlefield, Özbek said:

"With the laser-guided munitions we currently use, you need to approach the target and see the target. This puts you in the risk zone. Since we provide air-to-air communication with the TB2 or main platform aircraft in particular, KEMANKEŞ has achieved the ability to attack enemy elements from a much longer distance, even without entering the risky area. "It is able to attack the target by processing images with its own gimbal system and artificial intelligence. It can also operate in electronic warfare environments with its own anti-interference GNSS systems. In this sense, I think the TB2 will increase its capabilities a lot."

Noting that they are at the stage of flight tests for the cruise missile, which they started to work on last year, Özbek noted that the flight tests continue and they aim to start mass production this year. Özbek explained that they plan to make the first shot within 1-2 months after TEKNOFEST, and then they will carry out motorized flight tests.

6 kilogram warhead, 1 hour hover
Burak Özbek gave the following answer to the question about the technical features of BAYRAKTAR KEMANKES:

"The total weight of KEMANKES is 35 kilograms. We have warheads weighing 6 kilograms. So when we think about it, it actually has a warhead weight similar to the ammunition carried by TB2. Therefore, the destructive effect will be similar to them. In addition, because it has a jet engine on it, it is a mini-gun. We can think of it like a cruise missile. The communication range I mentioned is 50 kilometers now, it will reach 100 kilometers in the future, but when we consider its own flight range, it can go up to 250 kilometers. It can stay in the air for about an hour. It can display all altitude, flight speed, temperature or target information, as well as the camera image. It transfers all of it to TB2 and descends to the ground control station of TB2. When we think about it, you already go a certain distance with TB2, in addition, when you go with KEMANKEŞ, we are talking about a very serious range of up to 400 kilometers."

- Bayraktar TB2's abilities will increase even more

Drawing attention to the abilities that Bayraktar TB2 will gain with KEMANKES, Özbek said:

"Since there is communication, we will be able to take images from a very long distance. You can think of it like another unmanned aerial vehicle directed by TB2 from a very long distance. We mentioned that it is laser guided for ammunition. For laser guidance, you need to see the target. Now you will be able to attack a target without even seeing it from TB2. It will make the TB2 much more usable against very strategic targets behind enemy lines.”

Mini documentary about Aselsan in Arabic. It has some interesting footage:

Kemankes is powered by Idealabs's IL170 turbojet engine.

Akşit said: "We flew our first engine, the TS1400, in 6 years and 2 weeks at a speed that can be considered a record. As an example, the imported engine currently in use has a power of 1,373 horsepower. The first flight of this engine took 8 years from the beginning of the project. The French have an engine that is also considered to be in this class, and its first flight was 9 years from the start of the project. We are building it from scratch and we flew it in 6 years."

Also, PD-170 is about to be sold to a 'developed' Asian country.

On the other hand, BAYKAR is also working on different and heavier configurations of the KEMANKES Cruise Missile. According to the information obtained by SavunmaSanayiST.com; The development activities of the land-launched version of KEMANKES continue.

The Turkish elections sure are heating things up.


And Baykar's reaction to this:

"The idea of giving Atatürk Airport, which hosts TEKNOFEST, where more than a million young people compete and the world's best National Technology Projects are exhibited, to a US company...

To think that US companies, not Turks, can still do the “best”…

The mentality that buried Nuri Demirağ's planes has never changed."


Also the opposition wants to scrutinize the defense industry. WRT the TF-X, they want the project to follow a more 'realistic' timeline, which to me is an euphemism that they are going to cut the budget and/or delay the program a lot perhaps to the degree that they'll be forced to make heavy concessions to be readmitted into the F-35 program. TUSAS/TAI majority shares is owned by the state, so they can throw in some serious wrenches in the gears if they want to.

sequ said:

"Since there is communication, we will be able to take images from a very long distance. You can think of it like another unmanned aerial vehicle directed by TB2 from a very long distance. We mentioned that it is laser guided for ammunition. For laser guidance, you need to see the target. Now you will be able to attack a target without even seeing it from TB2. It will make the TB2 much more usable against very strategic targets behind enemy lines.”

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I think it directly reacts to Ukrainian TB2 strikes into Russian territory last spring/summer.
They succeeded(low-altitude flight around known AA emitters does wonders). Still, they were rather wasteful (losing a whole drone for dropping a single MAM-L was nice for morals, but quite wasteful in a military sense).

Now it can do exactly the same - but launch the missile from a safe standoff, working itself as a retranslator.

To the Turks on this forum, don't you also believe that you are your own worst enemy?

I've never met a people that was so willing to sabotage their national successes out of feelings of inferiority and insecurity and/or to spite their opponents. And this isn't something recently, it's something that's been present for more than 70 years.

sequ said:

To the Turks on this forum, don't you also believe that you are your own worst enemy?

I've never met a people that was so willing to sabotage their national successes out of feelings of inferiority and insecurity and/or to spite their opponents. And this isn't something recently, it's something that's been present for more than 70 years.

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Here in Canada we sunk our aviation industry big time to please our US master...Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow would have been stepping stone for our defence industry and Bombardier got sunk blindly lately when it was setting real commercial footbase.

It depend of who is getting the money, Officials or board of directors...the result is the same.