Türkiye’s ALKA Directed Energy System on KAPLAN Hybrid Vehicle Expands NATO Counter-Drone Options.

Türkiye has unveiled a mobile directed-energy air-defense system that pairs the ALKA laser and electronic warfare weapon with the KAPLAN Hybrid tracked vehicle, creating a frontline counter-drone capability designed to move with armored forces and defeat swarms at low cost. The system was presented by ROKETSAN and FNSS during SAHA Expo 2026 in Istanbul, highlighting its role in closing a critical gap in NATO short-range air defense against mass, low-cost aerial threats.

The platform combines soft-kill electromagnetic jamming with hard-kill laser engagement, enabling it to disrupt or destroy drones while preserving missiles and ammunition for higher-value targets. Its hybrid power system supports sustained directed-energy use and signals a broader shift toward mobile, energy-based defenses that enhance survivability, reduce logistics strain, and integrate into networked, layered air-defense architectures.

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ROKETSAN and FNSS introduced a hybrid armored vehicle-mounted laser and electronic warfare system designed to detect, disrupt, and destroy drone threats while moving with frontline forces (Picture Source: Army Recognition Group)

At SAHA Expo 2026 in Istanbul, Türkiye, ROKETSAN and FNSS presented their hybrid directed-energy air-defense platform with new optional manned and autonomous capabilities. The system combines ROKETSAN’s ALKA Directed Energy Weapon System with FNSS’s KAPLAN Hybrid tracked armored vehicle, creating a mobile counter-UAV solution designed to detect and neutralize drone swarms, loitering munitions and micro-UAVs. Its appearance at one of Türkiye’s largest defense exhibitions comes as NATO armies are reassessing short-range air defense and looking for mobile, cost-controlled systems able to protect armored forces, forward bases, command posts and logistics hubs against low-cost aerial threats.

The platform’s importance lies in the integration of two complementary Turkish technologies into a single battlefield system. ALKA provides the effectors and sensor layer, while KAPLAN Hybrid supplies the mobility, onboard power generation and armored survivability needed to bring directed-energy defense closer to the front line. According to ROKETSAN, ALKA is a two-layer very-short-range hybrid air-defense system able to use an electromagnetic jamming weapon for soft-kill effects and a laser weapon for hard-kill engagements. This dual approach allows the system to disrupt asymmetric threats when electronic attack is sufficient, or physically destroy them when the target continues toward protected forces.

ALKA’s technical architecture is designed for the types of aerial threats now shaping modern land warfare. The system is intended to counter fixed-wing and rotary-wing mini and micro UAVs, loitering munitions and swarm UAVs, including platforms carrying cameras, explosive payloads or guidance systems such as autopilot and image-supported navigation. It can also be used against booby traps, roadside improvised explosive devices and unexploded ordnance, expanding its relevance beyond air defense into urban operations, route clearance, convoy security and force protection. ROKETSAN lists 2.5 kW and 5 kW laser configurations, with stated ranges of 750 meters and 1,500 meters, respectively, as well as drone detection radar, the ability to track up to 100 targets, and day-and-night operational capability.

At SAHA Expo 2026, the most significant development was no longer the initial presentation of the weapon package, but the confirmation of its evolution into a mobile and optionally autonomous combat node. After its first public appearance at IDEF 2025, the ALKA KAPLAN Hybrid platform returned in Istanbul with enhanced manned and autonomous operating modes, showing how the concept has moved from integration demonstrator to a more mature counter-drone solution. This evolution is important because future air-defense systems will need to operate inside wider networks, combining detection, threat prioritization, mobility, decision support and rapid engagement in compressed timelines. The SAHA 2026 configuration therefore highlights a broader direction for Türkiye’s armored vehicle industry, in which platforms are expected not only to carry weapons, but also to function as intelligent, connected and energy-capable nodes within layered air-defense architectures.

The KAPLAN Hybrid carrier is central to this concept because directed-energy systems require stable and significant electrical power. FNSS’s diesel-electric architecture allows the onboard generation system to support both propulsion and high-energy mission equipment, removing the need for an additional generator and reducing the platform’s logistic footprint. The hybrid drivetrain uses electric motors that produce high torque at low speed, improving acceleration and maneuverability compared with conventional tracked vehicles. The system also enables silent driving and extended silent watch, two features that are increasingly valuable for reconnaissance, ambush protection, border surveillance and dispersed battlefield operations.

This energy architecture gives the platform a practical advantage over many conventional counter-drone solutions. Static jammers can protect fixed sites, but they cannot easily move with armored formations. Gun-based systems provide kinetic defense, but they are dependent on ammunition supply and may become inefficient when facing large numbers of cheap drones. Missile-based short-range air defense remains essential against aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles and larger UAVs, but using expensive interceptors against mini-UAVs or first-person-view drones can rapidly drain stocks. By combining electromagnetic disruption and laser engagement on a hybrid tracked platform, the Turkish system fills a critical layer between electronic warfare and kinetic air defense, offering repeated close-range engagements while preserving missiles and gun ammunition for higher-value threats.

The system’s mission profile is therefore broad. In mechanized operations, it could accompany tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles and engineering units to reduce their exposure to reconnaissance drones and loitering munitions. In defensive operations, it could protect artillery positions, ammunition depots, air-defense batteries and mobile command posts. In border security missions, it could support surveillance forces against small UAVs carrying sensors or explosives. In urban environments, its ability to neutralize improvised explosive devices and unexploded munitions adds a ground-security dimension that many traditional air-defense systems do not provide. This multi-role profile is particularly relevant for Türkiye, whose armed forces operate in a complex regional environment involving conventional risks, asymmetric threats, border security missions and expeditionary requirements.

Compared with similar counter-UAS approaches, the Turkish platform’s strongest distinction is the combination of mobility, energy autonomy and layered effects. Some systems rely only on jamming, which can be less effective against autonomous drones or pre-programmed flight profiles. Others rely only on guns or missiles, which can increase the cost of each engagement and create ammunition-depth problems during prolonged attacks. A laser and electromagnetic system mounted on a hybrid tracked vehicle offers a more balanced response: electronic attack for disruption, laser effect for precision defeat, armored mobility for frontline movement, and onboard power generation for sustained operation. This does not replace NATO’s existing SHORAD architecture, but it adds a flexible layer against the lower-cost threats that are now consuming disproportionate attention on the battlefield.

For Türkiye, the system reflects a deeper defense-industrial shift. ROKETSAN contributes directed energy, electronic attack, sensors and weapon integration, while FNSS provides armored mobility, hybrid propulsion and platform engineering. The cooperation demonstrates how Türkiye’s defense industry is moving from individual weapons and vehicles toward integrated battlefield ecosystems. The platform also supports the country’s objective of reducing dependence on foreign subsystems in critical areas such as tracked vehicle transmission, hybrid powerpacks and high-energy mission integration. FNSS notes that the KAPLAN Hybrid architecture was developed for tracked vehicles up to 20 tons and can be adapted for new vehicle programs or modernization projects, with potential resizing for other weight classes in the future.

The choice of SAHA Expo 2026 as the venue reinforces the industrial message. The exhibition, held from May 5 to 9, 2026, at the Istanbul Expo Center, brought together a large international defense and aerospace audience, with reports highlighting around 1,700 companies, 203 new product introductions and 164 signing ceremonies. In this environment, the Turkish mobile directed-energy platform was not merely a national display; it was presented in front of foreign delegations, industry partners and potential customers at a time when counter-drone procurement has become one of the fastest-growing priorities in the defense market.

For NATO, the relevance is direct. Allied forces need mobile systems that can protect forward operating bases, logistics routes, ammunition storage sites, airfields, command posts and armored columns from cheap drones that are too numerous to be countered only with missiles. As a NATO member with a rapidly expanding defense-industrial base, Türkiye can position this system as an allied-origin contribution to the alliance’s counter-UAS architecture. For the United States and other NATO members, such a capability could complement existing short-range air-defense, electronic warfare and base-protection systems by adding a mobile directed-energy layer optimized for repeated close-range engagements.

The platform unveiled in Istanbul shows how Türkiye is moving beyond the production of standalone armored vehicles and weapon systems toward integrated combat architectures that combine mobility, sensors, autonomy, energy management and effectors. Its value is not limited to destroying drones; it lies in its ability to move with the forces it protects, reduce dependence on expensive interceptors and create a persistent defensive layer against one of the most urgent threats facing NATO land forces. As drones continue to reshape the battlefield, Türkiye is positioning itself not only as a producer of unmanned systems, but also as a provider of the technologies needed to defeat them.

Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group

Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.