It's easy to overlook this as just another small step forward. But we are witnessing a major change which will completely reshape the Turkish Air Force. From around 300 active fixed wing combat aircraft that are all multi role, it will double soon (there are currently 170 UCAVs in Turkey's inventory), half will be reserved for air-to-air (F-16s and F-4s) meanwhile the other half (drones) will take care of ground targets.
Turkey's airforce has multi-role fighters, but no dedicated bombers for a long time. Turkish drones very quickly evolved from reconnaissance platforms, to light anti-infantry UCAVs, and now essentially they are turning into TuAF's fully-fledged bombers. It's safe to say that these drones are no longer just a small luxury for the Turkish airforce. They are serious combat aircraft which are forming Turkey's air-to-ground/attack aircraft fleet.
A single Aksungur or Akinci can:
- Wipe out a dozen clusters of infantry (or more depending on mounts)
- Destroy a dozen or more armoured vehicles (or more depending on mounts)
- Annihilate fortified positions and bases with guided heavy munitions (HGK, LGK & KGK)
- Destroy or disable surface vessels with SOM cruise missiles
Of course the problem with the current drones is that they are slow, and therefore quite susceptible to getting shot down. However with electronic warfare systems blinding enemy radars and F-16s providing protection against enemy aircraft, drones aren't the sitting ducks they're made out to be.
Once the
Goksungur is introduced the Turkish Air Force will have fast, unnamed, bomber aircraft... F-16s will never be needed again for any air-to-ground missions. Essentially, the Turkish Air Force's combat fleet will be divided into F-16s as pure air-to-air combat vehicles, meanwhile drones will take over all air-to-ground operations. This will free up the F-16s until the TFX arrives, so maybe that'll mean less maintenance.
Overall, the introduction of the Aksungur and Akinci will be a major milestone. They will take care of ground targets, meanwhile F-16s will act as their escorts when necessary.