Delivery of Aksungur Combat Drones to Turkey in Jan 2020

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) is set to deliver the new Aksungur combat drones, derived from TAI’s Anka, to Turkey in January 2020.

“TAI’s new Aksungur unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) will be delivered to Turkish security forces within the first month of 2020,” Temel Kotil, CEO of TAI, was quoted as saying by Anadolu Agency on Monday.

Aksungur has a 750-kilogram carrying capacity, a sharp upgrade from the 200-kilogram capacity of the earlier model, Anka. The new UAV is TAI’s largest drone with payload capacity for mission-specific equipment.

Aksungur is intended to be used for long-term surveillance, signals intelligence and maritime patrol missions. TAI plans to integrate weapon packages and put the Aksungur into production by early 2020.

"Aksungur is much more capable. You can install radar and bigger cameras," Kotil said.

The twin-engine-powered model took 18 months to create, the report said. The aircraft has a mission endurance window of around 24 hours and will be able to fly to 40,000 feet. The armed forces are expected to use Aksungur in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. 

“We will also begin working on the Göksungur, the supersonic version of Aksungur,” the official said.