Key points to watch out here and makes me really happy are
expendable and
attritable classifications.
@Kaan Azman in his article and
@Sanchez at his post, pointed out this distinction.
Baykar has unveiled the K2 long-range kamikaze UAV that can take off from unprepared short runways and be reused, with a test footage showing swarm capability.
turdef.com
Caught some details from the test video, happy reading y'all
This is a weird design.
It looks like an attritable TB2. Biggest cost item on the drone the EO sight is replaced with a much smaller unit. Still have many similarities to TB2, which does make sense, they built over 800 TB2s so it is easy to believe that they can churn out components on the cheap.
Canards on the front are interesting, I wonder what do they add over the original design. Probably to use air friction to keep the nose down due to lost weight from the EO? It is possible that it is more maneuvrable like the tonneau they tried with TB2s in the past. The revised swept wing also clearly helps with maneuvrability. But doesn't look to have any MWR to detect incoming ordinance. It is possible that it "wobbles" during terminal phase to fend of any defenders.
It's a 10 meter wing span huge drone like TB2; so it cannot be catapult or rato launched, needs a runway. This is a disadvantage for countries that expect to fight against peer opponents and don't have the territorial depth. Turkey does have the depth so it would work for us. But the design is so simple that I can believe the unprepared runway claim.
With under the bonnet features that Baykar have been working on re AI, it should be interesting to watch.
View attachment 79566
According to Anıl Şahin there will be two versions. K2 and A22
One expandable (kamikaze) and one attritable version. Seems that we finally have a real beast of attrition weapon and quite inexpensive.
“The K2 UAV will have different versions.
One of them will be the "Kamikaze" version, which will detonate itself over the target with a 200kg warhead. This is the expendable version. Unit activity will be lowest for this version. In terms of range and warhead, it's a highly destructive Kamikaze...
The other version will be one that drops its externally carried munitions on the target and then returns. We can call this the attritable / acceptable-loss version.
In essence, it's also bringing a fresh perspective to the attritable concept. The Bayraktar TB2 was already cheap, but it wasn't attritable. Still, it was sacrificed for the mission when necessary, but replacing it posed challenges in terms of time and cost. And we're talking about the most-produced UCAV in the world by number. The K2's attritable version that drops munitions could perhaps operate in swarms for very different missions—despite all risks—under the guidance of a Bayraktar TB2 acting as the "brain"...
Because of its large size, it doesn't have a full equivalent. We can compare it to the A-22 Foxbat, which Ukraine uses and which is a civilian aircraft converted into a Kamikaze.
K2 (10 Meters) — Wingspan — A-22 (10.1 Meters)
K2 (2000+ kilometers) — Range — A-22 (1300 kilometers)
K2 (200+ km/h) — Speed — A-22 (170 km/h)
K2 (200 kilograms) — Warhead — A-22 (90 kilograms)”