Turkey is becoming more assertive in their quest to become world’s top defense exporter
and a country with robust military presence. The effort has gone for years, and Turkey gradually
shows the world what it is capable of with its sophisticated, edge-cutting defense equipment.
This year, it comes in the form of High-Altitude Long-Endurance (HALE)
Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) goes by the name Bayraktar Akıncı. Following the launching of
the modern combat drone, Turkey received global attention and praised by many other nations.
But what this Akıncı drone really is? And how important is it to Turkish defense industry?
Hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Military TV. Today, we will take a deeper
look at the newest Turkish Akıncı drone and its features as modern 21st century UCAV.
Don’t go anywhere and stay tuned. The desire of Turkish government to
set up a strong national defense industry can be traced back to the period of Ottoman Empire.
However, the true manifestation of the effort can only be realized after 1980s.
In this period, a state-led drive was launched to modernize the Turkish Armed Forces,
with the primary goal of establishing a national defense sector based on cutting-edge technology.
Owing to the consistent effort of developing the industry,
the present Turkish defense sector is capable of producing both domestic and foreign products,
and it has a robust research and development program.
In 2020, the industry successfully introduced a variety of new goods to the security forces
and strived to develop technologies to improve the country's defense capabilities.
The continued success is now heightened by the introduction of Bayraktar Akıncı in August 2021.
Developed since 2017 by Turkish defense company Baykar Makina,
it was presented to the inventory of the Turkish Armed Forces during a festive delivery ceremony
held at flight training and test center in Çorlu, Tekirdağ Province of Turkey.
With the launching of Akıncı, Turkey comes closer to its dream in becoming one of the
world’s largest defense industries. So, what exactly does Akıncı drone has to offer?
Boasted with its advanced features, Akıncı has a payload capacity of 1350 kg and is accompanied
with sophisticated artificial intelligence technology for navigation. In addition, it is
also equipped with Smart Micro Munition which is produced by Turkish weapon manufacturer Rocketsan.
This feature leads to significance in reduced weight, improved flight time as well as precision.
They have also received global praise for its efficiency and lower cost. What’s more, Akıncı
claimed to be capable of gathering information by capturing large data through cameras and sensors,
and thanks to its advance AI feature, it also has the ability of procuring situational awareness by
employing geographical information instead of GPS. Though it was primarily designed to have an
incredible 24 hours of endurance, during a flight test on July 8, 2021, the drone stayed
in the air for 25 hours and 46 minutes and was able to endure at an altitude of 38,039 feet.
Given its impressive dexterity, Bayraktar AKINCI will play an essential role in conflict areas with
its conventional reconnaissance, intelligence, surveillance, electronic warfare, pointing and
positioning capabilities, as well as with its novel ground and air-based attacking capacity.
Undoubtedly, it will contribute to the improvement of Turkish Armed Forces’
combat agility as an effective user of this technology. It will also provide Turkey,
as a striving manufacturer, the opportunity to shape the future of world UAV industry.
This leads to a question of how precisely Akinci will shape Turkish defense in the future?
First of all, being a respected global defence exporter allows Turkey to secure
strategic bargaining position in this specific area. Beside opening doors for
future collaboration and partnerships, this will eventually contribute to the improvement
of economic well-being for the country. On the other side, this condition can also help Turkey
to be reliable to itself and stop being dependant to other countries in the field of defence fleet.
That’s all for today! Thanks for watching and see you in the next episode.