The Turkish companies Roketsan and STM have jointly developed the Alpagut, a new type of loitering ammunition that was unveiled during the SAHA Expo, a defense exhibition that was held in Istanbul, Turkey from 25 to 28 October 2022.
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The new Turkish-made Alpagut is jointly developed by the companies STM and Roketsan. (Picture source STM)
The effectiveness and importance of Intelligent Loitering Munitions have been increasing gradually in recent years amid the ongoing wars and conflicts in different parts of the world. ROKETSAN, Türkiye’s rocket and missile production center, and STM, Türkiye's leading company in the production of Tactical Mini-UAVs, have joined forces to develop ALPAGUT as a new and effective solution to meet this need in the field in the fastest way possible.
Citing information from the Turkish company STM, the ALPAGUT is a smart loitering munition also called a kamikaze drone that can be used from the land or the air. It can be launched from drones such as the Aksungur, SIHA, Bayraktar Akinci, and Bayraktar TB3 drones.
For land use, the Alpagut can be also mounted on tactical and armored vehicles and unmanned land platforms and also on naval vessels such as the Turkish-made MILGEM Ada-class corvettes and unmanned surface vessels (USVs).
The Alpagut can be operated during the day and night. It can be used to destroy mobile or fixed land and sea targets, radar and communication systems, lightly armored land or sea vehicles, and critical facilities such as command centers.
The Alpagut loitering munition has an operational radius of 60 kilometers and an endurance of more than 60 minutes. It can be fitted with different types of warheads and can be used individually or in swarm configurations. It can carry an explosive warhead of 11 kg and can fly at an altitude of 3.5 km. Once the target is detected it can follow it and fly in circles at an altitude of 300-1500 meters.
Once fired/released, the system will enter into target detection, tracking and evaluation mode, hovering in the air for a certain period of time, and will then begin an attack dive to destroy the identified target autonomously after obtaining user approval from the ground.
ALPAGUT can detect and recognize targets with its two-mode seeker without being noticed, and is unaffected by jamming systems. The target can be pinpointed with a precision guidance-control propulsion system. In addition to all these features, the system also offers significant advantages to its users with its fire&forget feature, and in its ability to be rapidly integrated into manned and unmanned land/air/sea vehicles. The system will be developed as a major game changer on the battlefield. Its ability to be swiftly integrated with domestically-manufactured UCAV systems will allow rapid engagement with mobile air defense systems, strategic ground elements, and asymmetric targets.
