At a time when the Turkish “Phoenix” and “Aksankar” marches are gaining new capabilities, other home-made marches are preparing to achieve new successes in the Turkish export sector in the future.
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During the “African Aviation and Defense Exhibition 2022” organized in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa, the Turkish Aerospace and Aerospace Industries Company (TOSASH) presented examples of these marches.
During the exhibition, the company displayed a number of aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and satellite platforms, and held meetings with a number of participating delegations.
Omer Yildiz, Deputy Director General of Unmanned Aircraft Systems at TUSAŞ, said that the company continues to make more efforts to provide new capabilities for unmanned aircraft systems.
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He added that the company is working on integrating the free-fall version of the Turkish “Kuzgun” missiles, which is capable of carrying different warheads from 20 to 60 kilograms, with the Turkish “Aksungur” drone.
He indicated that various efforts will continue to be made to integrate another group of turboprop missile versions with the Turkish “Aksankar” drone.
And he added, “We have finished conducting ground tests for Kozgon and have reached the stage of conducting armed tests. Perhaps within a month, the work of merging with the march of Aqsogon will be completed and used in the field.”
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He continued, “As is known, the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Foundation (TUBITAK) has been able to develop a new generation of turboprop missiles known as Kayı, in addition to its development of the Kozgon missiles.”
He added, “We are also working on integrating Kayi with the Aksunkar drones and providing them with the laser guidance array system that was developed by the Turkish Military Electronics Industries Company (ASELSAN).”
“In addition to the above, we have conducted successful tests on the home-made Sonoboy systems that are capable of collecting and analyzing sounds in the depths, detecting threats such as submarines and other marine targets, and integrating these systems with unmanned marine vehicles,” the spokesman explained.
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Regarding the studies conducted by the “Tosach” company for the production of the “Simsek” plane, he said that “the locally-made Shemsek plane, which is characterized by being faster than sound, is ready and we are completing some work related to the engine.”
In addition, the Shemshek aircraft will weigh about 200 kilograms and can fly at a speed of Mach 0.8 in 6 months.
He added, “Work is continuing quickly to complete this project. This aircraft is necessary and will be used specifically to test the air defense systems developed by Turkey. We believe that the work related to the production of this aircraft will be completed within 6 months from now.”
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He pointed out that the “Aksankar” drone is currently flying with a locally-made (PD170) engine, as “TOSA” intends to supply the Turkish “Phoenix” plane with a locally-made engine as of the end of this year.
He stated that the company will hand over to the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey a locally-made drone that will be used in cargo work, indicating that it is capable of transporting 80 kilograms of payload.
The spokesman also announced that “work has begun on the production of another drone with a capacity of 200-250 kilograms.”
Regarding the export of drones, Yildiz said: “We have delivered 3 drones to Tunisia, which has submitted a request to purchase two additional aircraft (..) We will conclude a contract in this regard.”
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He continued, “We are currently conducting negotiations with 3 other countries in Africa, and we are close to reaching an agreement, and the drones purchased by Kazakhstan are ready.”
