Turkish aircraft to be produced serially

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Unmanned aircraft ANKA has been designed and developed by Turkish aerospace firm. Company photo

The serial production of Turkish local unmanned aircraft ANKA will begin as developer Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) is set to sign a contract with the Defense Industry Undersecretary in one to two months, the undersecretary has said.

Some features of the craft are to be developed as well, according to Defense Industry Undersecretary Murad Bayer.

Bayar noted that ANKA is actually a national design development project and the final acceptance tests of the vehicle were completed last month. The tests included an over 18-hour-long test flight, demonstration of full endurance, 200 km data link range performance under winds reaching 45 knots and night take-offs and landings.

The next stage is the serial production of 10 ANKA systems for the Turkish Air Force, whose contract negotiations for it are already underway, Bayar said.

“These systems will have a more progressive design and features than regular design-development aircraft,” he said, adding that despite the plan to develop some characteristics, the ANKA system is already a successful unmanned aircraft as it is now.

In his remarks, he also mentioned that Turkish defense industrialists have been working on another rifle, the Milli Piyade Tüfeği, which they expect to reveal the details of to the public as soon as the qualification tests are completed successfully.

The rifle will be particular to Turkey, the undersecretary added.

Turkey has initiated negotiations for selling ANKA unmanned aerial vehicle systems as well as CIRIT rocket systems, Atal helicopters and Altay tanks, Bayar said.

Accelerating its attempts to boost its arms exports to Gulf countries, Turkish missile manufacturer Roketsan agreed to export its own laser-guided rocket system, known as the CIRIT, to the army of the United Arab Emirates for a total of $196.2 million.