Development Process of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and UAV Development Activities in Turkey

The history of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) goes back as far as the history of manned aircraft. The air vehicle closest to the concept of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in today's sense was first developed by Charles Perley, an inventor from New York in the late 19th century. This vehicle, a balloon with a timed bomb release mechanism, was sent over the troops and the bomb was released after a certain time. 

The first radio-controlled aircraft was the Curtiss N-9 training aircraft of the US Navy, which performed a stable flight with the help of an automatic gyroscopic stabiliser developed by Peter Cooper and Elmer A. Sperry of the USA in 1917. A 300-pound bomb was loaded onto the pilotless aircraft and carried up to 80 kilometres away. It is the first UAV in the modern sense and is an aerial torpedo with three-axis mechanical gyroscopes, electric servos and radio, and was tested in 1918.

UAVs began to be used in the 1930s for the testing and training of anti-aircraft systems. The QQ-19 was the first mass-produced unmanned target aircraft, and from 1933 onwards, around 48,000 units were produced and put into use until the end of the war. During World War II, the US Navy used a television from the RCA company, a sensor for detection purposes, for the first time on a UAV that originally served as a target aircraft, and kamikaze missions were performed.

The V-1 is the most successful UAV developed by the Germans during the War, and is categorised between an aircraft and a cruise missile. This vehicle, which is in the UAV segment with its autonomous flight capability, started a new era by producing a total of 25,000 units. Although the UAV studies in today's sense, which were first initiated by the USA in the early 1900s, were interrupted except for some activities, they came to the agenda again with the start of the Vietnam War.

UAVs were widely used by the US in the Vietnam War for military purposes in the modern sense, and approximately 1000 UAVs were used in this war to map the logistics networks of North Vietnamese and Chinese troops, and many of these vehicles were shot down by Chinese air defence systems.

The D-21 was conceived and built by the United States during the Cold War for aerial surveillance of the Warsaw Pact countries as an alternative to the U-2 aircraft shot down in Soviet airspace in 1960. 

During the Desert Storm operation organised by the USA against Iraq in 1991, this time the wide-scale deployment of UAVs was put into practice. The Iraq War focused on UAVs, and in September 2001, the US army had a total of 30 UAVs, while this number increased to over 2000 ten years later.

With this knowledge and experience, the first successful ‘High Altitude Long Flight Duration’ (HALE) UAV system was the Ryan SPA 147, which laid the groundwork for the F-117 and B-2s. This aircraft was the father of today's HALE UAVs with its ability to take photographs from 60 thousand feet and its 8-hour mission duration.

What distinguishes this aircraft, which can be considered the ancestor of the Israeli-made Harpy and equivalent aircraft, from today's mobile munitions is its autonomous flight feature and the absence of sensors to be used to recognise the enemy. 

Today, the military use of UAVs has shifted to reconnaissance-listening, surveillance and attack missions as the main missions. 

UAV systems, which were previously used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) purposes, started to be used as UCAVs in the 2000s as an effective weapon system that can also be used in the operational environment thanks to the weapon systems mounted on them.

With the rapidly advancing sensor, communication, microprocessor and software technologies, UAVs, which were initially mainly used for reconnaissance and surveillance missions, have been increasingly used in combat missions since the beginning of the 2000s, as their maturity levels have increased with a high acceleration in the last 30 years.

Historical development process of UAVs

As a natural consequence of the advances in technology and the level reached by mankind in terms of software and hardware, the use of UAV systems in combat missions has accelerated, and development efforts have been initiated to address asymmetric threats posed by the threat of conventional warfare. As a result, UAV systems have been used in many operations and counter-terrorism missions and continue to be used effectively. 

With the rapidly developing electronic technology in recent years, the size of the payloads carried by UAVs is getting smaller day by day, while their capacity and diversity are increasing. This rapidly changes and improves the operational utilisation concepts of UAVs. The systems can be controlled from very long distances thanks to satellite data links, can stay in the air for very long periods of time, can carry ammunition close to the capacities of close air support aircraft, can perform air-to-surface attack missions from high altitudes without approaching the ground thanks to advanced electro-optical/infrared laser sensors, can perform signal intelligence in large areas, and can provide image intelligence in all weather conditions thanks to synthetic aperture radars.

Radio relay systems enable communication between the units in the field and operational centres, and provide battlefield tactical pictures to the units in the field. Thanks to wide-angle imaging systems, movements in very large areas can be kept under constant observation. All these capabilities have made UAVs an important force multiplier in the battlefield today.

UAV Development Activities in Turkey

The beginning of the use of UAVs by security forces in Turkey dates back to the 90s. In those years, UAVs were used effectively in the fight against terrorism in our country due to their ability to be used for reconnaissance and surveillance purposes. In the following years, Turkey continued its UAV activities by purchasing or leasing from foreign companies.

The Banshee target aircraft system was used by the Turkish Armed Forces in 1989 as the first unmanned target aircraft. The first UAV system actually acquired by the Turkish Armed Forces was the US GNAT-750 UAV. In 1995, six GNAT-750 UAVs entered the inventory, followed by two I-GNATs. GNAT-750 and I-GNAT UAVs were used by the Turkish Armed Forces until 2005.

The Heron UAV system was the first UAV system to enter the Air Force inventory and has been used effectively in the fight against terrorism since 2010. In the same way, three Aerostar UAVs, which were procured from abroad, were taken into the inventory of the Land Forces in 2008 and started to be used. 

New strategies were developed for the development of domestic and national products. Due to both technical and politically motivated problems in a tactical UAV project acquired through direct procurement from abroad, Turkey went one step further and took action with foundations and private companies to build its own tactical and ‘Medium Altitude Long Endurance’ (MALE) class UAVs. As a result of the will shown and the efforts made, today Turkey has two products in the MALE category as completely original designs by domestic companies. In order to strengthen production and industry in this field, many defence companies have been established and subsystem and spare parts production has started. In this context, some payloads and subsystems used in UAV systems have been developed by Turkish companies.  Among these, the ASELFLIR 300T camera, the Satellite Ground Terminal, the Remote Image Terminal and the Portable Image Valorisation System were developed in the selected product category. 

Domestic UAV production activities, which started in the early 1990s, have intensified in the recent period. Especially after 2004, a large industrial infrastructure operating in the field of UAV systems started to emerge in Turkey. 

In 2001, the Turna system, produced by TAI, entered the Turkish Armed Forces inventory, and was the first domestically produced target aircraft. In 2004, TAI initiated the ANKA Development Project. The first flight was performed in December 2010. The flight acceptance tests of the first phase were completed in February 2013 and the first flight was performed in 2015. The ANKA-S contract was signed for the production of the UAV, enabling armed UAV systems to enter the Air Force inventory.

ANKA-S is a version of ANKA with some new capabilities such as satellite control (SATCOM). The deliveries of the ANKA-S UAV system to the Air Force started in 2017, and the system continues to perform its duties effectively in the fight against terrorism. 

Another product of TAI, the High Payload Capacity AKSUNGUR UAV System stands out as a Medium Altitude Long Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System that performs continuous, day/night Intelligence Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Attack Missions with EO/IR, SAR and SIGINT payloads and various air-to-ground weapons. AKSUNGUR has two twin turbocharged diesel engines that enable long duration operations up to 40,000 ft. AKSUNGUR flew with the TEI-PD170 national engine for the first time in November 2023, reaching 30,000 ft. with these engines. Continuing its tests with the national engine, AKSUNGUR then achieved the success of staying in the air for 41 hours.

Following the first engine start-up in March 2023, TAI's ANKA III successfully performed its first flight on 28 December 2023. ANKA-III, which makes a significant difference with the low visibility provided by the flying wing configuration, the high speed provided by the turbofan engine and the high carrying capacity at the internal stations, is a UAV with a take-off weight of approximately 7 tonnes. ANKA-III is expected to operate at an altitude of 40,000 feet, reach a speed of Mach 0.7 and stay in the air for 10 hours. Flight tests of ANKA III are ongoing.

The Bayraktar mini UAV system, whose development was initiated by the Kalekalıp - Baykar Makina Joint Venture in 2005, entered the TAF inventory in 2007 as the first indigenous UAV. In addition, 20 Bayraktar mini UAVs were taken into use by the EGM. Baykar Makina initiated the development of the Malazgirt rotary wing mini UAV in 2006, and the UAVs were delivered to the TAF in May 2009.

Baykar Makina initiated the development of the prototype of the Bayraktar TB2 tactical UAV system in 2007 and completed it in 2015.  It is currently one of the most effective systems in the fight against terrorism. The TB2 has proven itself in many conflict zones such as Syria, Libya, Azerbaijan and Ukraine, and the development of the TB3, which can take off and land from the runway on the deck of the TCG Anadolu Amphibious Assault Ship, is underway. Bayraktar TB3 UCAV, developed indigenously and indigenously by Baykar, successfully completed the High Altitude System Performance Test by reaching an altitude of 33 thousand feet during test flights. Flight tests continue.

The AKINCI UAV, which is longer and wider than Bayraktar TB2, has a wingspan of 20 metres with its unique twisted wing structure. It can carry a large number of national smart ammunition. AKINCI will also perform some of the missions performed by fighter jets. Among the main flight performance criteria, 40,000 Feet Flight Altitude, high payload capacity and 24 Hours Air Time stand out. AKINCI Attack Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System is designed to be able to launch ammunition, missiles and bombs such as MAM-L, MAM-C, Cirit, L-UMTAS, Bozok, MK-81, MK-82, MK-83, Winged Guidance Kit (KGK), Gökdoğan, Bozdoğan, SOM-A.

Bayraktar KIZILELMA, the combat unmanned aircraft system Bayraktar KIZILELMA, which is also being developed by Baykar, is aimed to be produced according to the combat concepts of the future. KIZILELMA, which can conduct air-to-air combat with aggressive manoeuvres, stands out with its low radar cross-section. KIZILELMA, which will have the ability to take off and land from ships with short runways, will also have an internal ammunition bay. Among the basic flight performance criteria are 5 hours of air time, 1500 kilogram payload capacity, 8.5 tonnes maximum take-off weight, 0.6-0.9 Mach speed range, 30,000 feet operational altitude and 500 mile mission radius.

The Karayel tactical UAV system, developed by Vestel Defence, made its first flight on 30 April 2014. The Karayel UAV can operate up to an altitude of 22,500 feet, can carry a payload of up to 70 kg, and can stay in the air for 20 hours. The main user country of this product is Saudi Arabia.

In addition to Baykar Makina, TAI and Vestel Defence, which primarily develop and produce UAVs for the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF), many private companies and universities continue to carry out very important activities to develop UAV systems.