Turkey's Defense Agency Starts Drone-based Electronic Warfare Project

Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) has launched a new project to equip drones with electronic warfare (EW) capabilities.

The Stand-Off-Jammer/Remote Jammer project named IHA SOJ was announced by SSB during a defense industry event held recently, Daily Sabah reported.

Turkey’s Anka-I UAV, produced by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) can already perform signal intelligence (SIGINT) activities and is in National Intelligence Organization's (MIT) inventory.

The SSB is also working on Remote Electronic Support/Electronic Attack Ability in Air Platform (HAVA SOJ) Project. The drone will be able to detect, identify and locate enemy communication systems as well as radar and air defense. It will also provide early warning, as well as confuse, deceive and blind hostile systems to prevent them from being used against friendly elements, particularly in cross-border operations.

Within the scope of that project, four HAVA SOJ systems required by the Turkish Air Forces Command (HvKK) will be procured. Deliveries are set to start in 2023 with the first HAVA SOJ system, and SOJ Fleet Building and are expected to run through 2025.