Turkish Firm to Expand Smart Munitions Range for UAVs

Turkey's Rokestan is set to expand its mini smart ammunition (MAM), used by the country’s armed combat drones.

Roketsan Chairperson Murat İkinci was quoted as saying by Anadolu Agency (AA) that Turkey's unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) development projects have added leverage to the Turkish defense industry and that the Bayraktar TB2 drones, in particular, offered improved opportunities and abilities for the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).

İkinci added that the drones mainly use MAM family ammunitions, namely the MAM-L and MAM-C smart ammunition that "provides great leverage in terms of capability and strike power."

He said in the upcoming period, new UAVs like Bayraktar Akıncı, a unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) and Aksungur, a domestically produced medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), will be used by the TSK. Both have superior capabilities compared to the current models.

Parallel to the developing capabilities of the new combat drones, İkinci said they will be equally focusing on developing advanced ammunition for the MAM family.

Local air defense system

İkinci added that Sungur, a pedestal-mounted air defense system developed by Roketsan, is ready to be used by the army.

"The version that is mounted on the vehicle and can be launched from it is ready to be delivered to the TSK."

He said in addition to the system that only controls air targets over the armored vehicle, a single system that unites Sungur and Cirit pedestal-mounted laser-guided missiles that can engage both air and ground targets simultaneously will also be delivered to the TSK. The project is in the final stage of production, he added.