Turkey is ‘building’ a war super-machine with drones – and not only that

By Amir Husain

Turkish defense spending barely exceeds $20 billion a year, but Ankara’s achievements – for such a low budget – are impressive. Consider that in the past few years, Turkey has suppressed Kurdish insurgency, supported Qatar in its confrontation with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, assembled the forces of the Government of National Accord in Libya, and carried out military operations in Syria. Furthermore, Turkish intervention tipped the scales in favor of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh war against Armenia. Today, Turkey provides significant military aid to Ukraine, which is at war with Russia. The number of military engagements that Ankara maintains is impressive and the results of its movements in the field are remarkable. Most of these are due to Ankara’s advanced weapons systems, but also to the tactics and strategy implemented by the Turkish Armed Forces.

How can the armaments sector perform through a policy of autonomy? This is what we learn from Ankara’s recent military moves. Turkish defense spending – amounting to just over $20 billion a year – maintains NATO’s second-largest military while allowing space for smart investments in the domestic defense industry, which is currently working on over 700 different projects. Projects that give a taste of the war of the future and involve offensive and defensive weapons, military hardware and software.

Kargu

Fully autonomous quadcopter drones capable of striking personnel and military equipment. They have a range of 5 kilometers and a flight time of 30 minutes. Only one operator is required to navigate them. They have been used in combat in Libya and perhaps Nagorno-Karabakh.

TB2

Baykar’s TB2 is now the world’s most exported drone, surpassing Chinese and American MALE UAVs. It has been used extensively in clashes with Armenian forces, but also in Syria, where it successfully countered Russian air defense systems in synergy with Turkish electronic warfare systems such as Koral. Equipped with Aselsan’s EO/IR CATS sighting system and armed with Turkish-made MAM-C, MAM-L and LUMTAS precision munitions, the TB2 has caused hundreds of kills and disabled armored and artillery tanks.

Anka-S & Aksungur

Anka is a larger and more advanced (compared to the TB-2) unmanned aerial vehicle of Turkish Aerospace Aksungur is a drone that can engage in anti-submarine warfare missions.

Akinci

A new Baykar drone set a record by flying at 38,000 feet for almost 26 hours. It can carry a payload of 1.35 tons and carries the Turkish-made Bozdogan and Gokdogan air-to-air missiles that can engage targets both within and beyond line of sight.

MIUS Nexgen

Baykar’s Mach 1 multi-role drone will begin flying within 2023. Capable of air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. It will be deployed on the Turkish amphibious operations ship Anadolu, enhancing its operational capabilities. Anadolu is estimated to carry up to 50 TB-3 and MIUS drones.

Roketsan Alka Laser

A directed energy weapon that targets unmanned aerial systems (UAS), the Alka was used in 2019 in Libya and destroyed a Chinese WL2 drone. The 50 Kw laser/EM weapon has a range of 1 km and the ability to neutralize drones at a distance of 4 km.

EW Aselsan Koral

A ground-based electronic attack system with a 200 km operating range capable of jamming and detuning radar.

Armed USVs

A series of Turkish unmanned surface vessels capable of anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare operations, etc. Their weapon systems are Turkish-made, such as L-UMTAS anti-tank missiles and other surface-to-air missiles. They have the ability to move at high speeds and in groups.

UAV for Anadolu

The Anadolu, which is expected to officially enter the seas in 2022, is a 27,000-ton amphibious operations ship built in Turkey and can carry 50 AA and A2G drones. The ship will also act as a command center and be protected by autonomous USVs.

Sapan ultrasonic electromagnetic gun

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) is developing the Sapan, an electromagnetic cannon capable of firing projectiles at supersonic speeds.

In addition, “are running” and other projectssuch as the Altay tank, the Gokbey attack helicopter, the deployment of unmanned gunship helicopters, the SOM (Standoff Missile) cruise missiles, the Milgem corvette, the Hisar surface-to-air missile system, the Aselsan EIRS S-band early warning radar, the AESA radar, while the TAI TFX, a 5th generation fighter aircraft, is also being designed.

Coupled with infrastructure projects such as the creation of a spaceport, Turkish investments in weapons systems suggest a high-leverage, low-budget, holistic approach to the war of the future. Electronic warfare brings drones to the fore, which in turn paves the way for unmanned ground vehicles, which will be able to take… combat workloads off tanks like the Altay, which will be equipped with lasers to defend against of drones or with the ultrasonic, electromagnetic cannon. The old F-16s will be upgraded with AESA radars and air-to-air missiles capable of striking targets outside of line of sight, and assisted in their operations by MIUS-type autonomous aircraft capable of air-to-air flights.

The picture that emerges from the study of Turkish defense developments shows financially lucrative upgrades, investments in next-generation systems and an unrelenting pursuit of autonomy in all areas.

In short: an impressive fighting super-machine at a reasonable cost.