Haluk Bayraktar: Akıncı on the Road Map

Test7

Experienced member
Staff member
Administrator
Messages
4,781
Reactions
17 19,905
Nation of residence
United States of America
Nation of origin
Turkey
C4Defence: TB2 UAV flew a total of 140 thousand hours. Aerial platforms are also continually evolving. What changes have happened to the UAV since the first flight? CEO of

Baykar Defence Haluk Bayraktar: The UAV is one job, flying it reliably for 140 hours is another. There are 91 UAVs in the inventory. These are serving in the General Command of Gendarmerie, General Directorate of Security, Land Forces, Navy and Intelligence. UAV technology is developing very fast. Although the name of the main platform Bayraktar TB2 is the same, it has a structure that is continuously updated in hardware and software in its subcomponents. Some equipment changes, renewal is continuous. Every day a team works for new software and hardware for such updates. When we look at the critical changes that make a difference between them, significant improvements in flight capability have been experienced for the places where electronic warfare is applied due to operational experience. Various enhancements have been made in both hardware and software. Bayraktar TB2 has a structure that finds targets for warplanes, attack helicopters, howitzers and if necessary TB2 destroys the target itself. The UAV can laser designate targets for other platforms. There are three data links on the plane, two of which are indigenous and one is imported. Work on the localisation of the third link also continues. The ground control station has updates. On the first aircraft, for example, even the tyre on the landing gear was foreign, now the tyres are produced by Petlas. There’s a reason for that. It is crucial to be local in terms of economy and trust
Adsız.png


C4Defence: With IvchenkoProgress, you established the Black Sea Shield Joint Venture to develop the AI-450T engine of Bayraktar Akıncı UAV. What will this company focus on?

Haluk Bayraktar: We sell Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) to Ukraine. We signed a relevant contract. We have worked on alternatives that will make Bayraktar Akıncı platform more protected and make us strategically secure. We determined that one of them is Ukraine. That’s why we started working with SE Ivchenko-Progress for the AI450T engine. Our software developers worked together in the FADEC (Electronic software) part of this engine. The last letter, T, of this engine is a reference to Turkey. We’ve changed the FADEC of this engine. The software was developed to make the engine deliver the performance we want at an altitude of 40,000 feet. The engine is currently being updated according to our needs. At this stage, we are working on three different engine configurations for Bayraktar Akıncı UAV. We will fly different Bayraktar Akıncı’s with 750, 450 and 220 horsepower engines from different companies and engines. All of them will walk step by step. We are currently only working on the integration of the FADEC. We’ve finished the integration of the engine to the airframe. And we’ll have a flight with him soon. C4Defence: For Akıncı, we read attack UAV and UCAV characteristics. We deduce the meaning of two separate UAVs, tasks and doctrines. What is it? Haluk Bayraktar: Presidency of Defence Industries often uses the expression attack. This term means a UAV capable of performing strategic missions, performing long-term flights and performing bombing missions on ground targets. Attack UAV has detailed written mission profiles, sub-systems and ammunition, such as electronic warfare, electronic support pods, radar systems. On the communication side, a satellite-based (SatCom) and the line-of-sight multibackup system is installed. This aircraft uses a turboprop engine, and tests about it are publicly available. The UCAV is an aircraft capable of reaching the speed of sound, capable of using air-to-air ammunition and entering aggressive manoeuvres rather than stable flight. This aircraft will use a turbofan engine, and wingspan will be much lower. The combat unmanned warplane has not yet developed a detailed doctrine study in the concept study.

Adsız.png


C4Defence: What kind of electronic support units will serve within Bayraktar Akıncı?

Haluk Bayraktar: We are working on many systems and software that will affect the situational awareness of the aircraft. Two artificial intelligence computers that we exhibit at Teknofest will serve with Bayraktar Akıncı. Thanks to precise advanced signal processing technology, the reliability and situational awareness of the aircraft will be much better than the current one. Most signal data will be processed first on the plane. Baykar comes up with a 10- year development strategy. Bayraktar Akıncı is in the first stage of our road map. For this reason, our work is focused on UCAV. In the new understanding, the UAVs will always be in the air, and the warplanes will take off when engagement is required. We currently have at least 15-20 UAVs in the air at any moment. That’s why our UAVs produce more cumulative flight times per year than the air force. UAVs are flying ahead and continuously. For this reason, we take measures to keep the reliability of the aircraft at the highest level.

C4Defence: How is the valuation of the image collected by a UAV that stays in the air so long?

Haluk Bayraktar: Systems that work together and analyse images are the most critical part of our work. The Map and Navigation Module is a geographic information system that provides the user with the functions of flight mission planning, aircraft location information display, landform shapes, military symbology marking and location information query. User can perform flight mission planning. Informs the user for friendly and hostile zones. This ensures that the aircraft is in the right place. GAM (Görüntü Aktarma Merkezi/Image Transfer Centre) collects images from UAVs and armed UAVs, and share them with more than one assigned user at the same time without interruption. All images monitored by GAM are stored together with the date of the operation, the geographical location and the notes of the operation added by the personnel. On the other hand, the Raven Project (Kuzgun Projesi), which we developed for the soldiers in the field, is a handy system for evaluating the image obtained in the air. UAV images are transferred to tablet computers held by operational units in the area with the Raven system. This system and technology provide communication over the military TAFICS network developed under cybersecurity measures and the private GSM network connected to it physically. The system can healthily perform live image transmission, even with low communication bandwidth

 

Follow us on social media

Top Bottom