Turkish Aerospace Industries Delivers 3 ANKA UAVs to the Turkish Navy.

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) delivered 3 ANKA armed drones to the Turkish Navy on October 12.

ANKA Multi-Role ISR System (Picture source: TAI)

The TAI Anka is a family of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) for the requirements of the Turkish Armed Forces. Basic Anka-A is classified as a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV. Envisioned in the early 2000s for tactical surveillance and reconnaissance missions, the Anka has now evolved into a modular platform with synthetic aperture radar, precise weapons and satellite communication.

Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar that is used to create two-dimensional images or three-dimensional reconstructions of objects, such as landscapes. With SAR, the drone can conduct surveillance missions in all weather conditions. One of the armed drones has a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)

ANKA drone has a wingspan of 17.3m and a length of 8m. Its powerplant is a heavy fuel engine (155 hp) and its payload capacity is 200kg (full endurance). It has a 24 hours endurance and can reach the altitude of 30,000ft (MSL) with a maximum data range of 200km.

ANKA, advanced Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) class Unmanned Aerial System, performs day and night, all-weather reconnaissance, target detection/identification and intelligence missions with its EO/IR and SAR payloads, featuring autonomous flight capability including Automatic Take-off and Landing.

ANKA incorporates a heavy-fuel engine and electro-expulsive Ice Protection System with an Advanced Ground Control Station and dual datalink allowing operational security and ease. The system is expandable with a Transportable Image Exploitation Station, Radio Relay, Remote Video Terminal and SATCOM.