Turkish model of army building based on innovative technologies -ANALYSIS

Turkish model of army building based on innovative technologies -ANALYSIS
# 11 February 2022 17:04 (UTC +04:00)

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic being the world's most pressing issue today, growing tensions in the system of geopolitical relations, and even forecasts of some experts that it could result in a third world war, indicate that the process is developing in an unpleasant way. The clash of interests of the great powers in various hot spots around the world and insisting on their claims give reason to believe that the threat is even more real.

The possibility of escalating tensions into an active phase in the different points of world, or elsewhere makes it necessary for countries from the smallest to the largest to enrich their arsenals.

Such a case bears a natural question: With what weapons?

The 21st century has brought new technologies and know-how. Science, industry, and production are constantly developing in this direction. Of course, these rules could not pass by the arms industry. Large countries were already thinking about equipping their armies with weapons and equipment based on new technologies. The goal was to achieve greater results with less human loss. Although many countries, including the United States, Israel, Russia, China, and the West, initially took the lead in this area, in the later stages of the process, Turkey came to the forefront with its unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). UAVs have already become one of the most important weapons systems of the first half of the XXI century.

At a time when different countries prefer an army model based on innovative technologies, Turkey's results are truly astonishing. Isn't the fact that the whole world is talking about "Bayraktar" today a clear proof of what Turkey has achieved in this field?

As mentioned above, different countries prefer an army model based on innovative technologies. In modern times, the world's leading armies do not use manpower, but drones, unmanned vehicles, and aircraft, space technology. Here we need to focus on a few points: The main issue, of course, is to prevent the human loss, while another issue is that the use of manpower in battles is not cost-effective. Besides the killed servicemen, it is a very costly process to prepare again those, who suffered from various injuries, psychological traumas, and post-traumatic syndromes, for the battle. Therefore, the issue of introducing a new generation of military innovations arises as an optimal way out. To achieve this, the use of artificial intelligence in military innovations becomes the demand of the agenda.

Naturally, the Turkish Armed Forces, which ranks among the strongest armies in the world, could not lag behind the process.

It is known that the effectiveness of each weapon and equipment is determined by the results achieved in the war. Real battles have shown that the effectiveness of UAVs produced by the above-mentioned countries is lower than that of Turkish-made UAVs.

Turkey’s UAV system was included in the arsenal of the Turkish Armed Forces in 2015.

So, what made Turkey's UAVs so prominent? Comparative analysis shows that Turkish-made drones are far superior to the drones made by other countries.

Before looking at the results of the analysis, it should be noted that Turkish specialists achieved these results thanks to hard work. Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System Development Program was started in Turkey in 2007. Within this program flight tests of the Bayraktar tactical UAV system made by “Baykar Makina” have been implemented. Bayraktar tactical UAV system has successfully fulfilled all preparation criteria.

After the test stages, preliminary drone-making works conducted by August 2012 have been successfully completed and laid the foundation for mass production. First prototype systems were developed in January 2013, flight tests of these systems were launched in March 2014. While tests continued, mass production was also started.

Bayraktar TB2 ”operational-tactical, medium-altitude fighter national unmanned combat vehicles, as well as other combat drones produced by “Baykar Makina” company were further developed in a short time. Turkey is new in UAV production. “Bayraktar TB2 ”,“ Bayraktar TB3 ”,“ Bayraktar Akinci ”and other new generation weapons are examples of this.

Now let's move on to comparative analysis. The table below shows technical indicators of various UAVs produced by different countries. “What is the maximum load that can be lifted in the air”, “Speed in the loaded state”, "Operation limit", "Weight of the load carried", "Remaining time in the air" and "Maximum lifting height" of the vehicles are brought to attention:

Name

Producing country

What is the maximum load that can be lifted into the air

Speed when installed

Limit of activity

The weight of the load it carries

Duration of stay in the air

Maximum climbing height

Bayraktar Akıncı

Turkiye

5,500 kg

240 km/h

7,500 km

1,350 kg

25 hour

12,192 m

Bayraktar TB2

Turkiye

650 kg

130 km/h

150 km

150 kg

27 hour

5,500 m

CAIG Wing Loong

China

4,000 km

20 hour

5,000 m

CAIG Wing Loong II

China

4,200 kg

370 km/h

32 hour

9,900 m

CASC CH-3/3A

China

650 kg

220 km/h

960 km

60-80/180 kg

12 hour

4, 000 m

CASC CH-4B

China

1,300 kg

180 km/h

345 kg

40 hour

CASC CH-5

China

3300 kg

220 km/h

60 hour

9,000 m

MQ-1 Predator

USA

130 km/h

1,250 km

24 hour

7,600 m

MQ-1C Gray Eagle

USA

1,633 kg

360 kg

25 hour

8,839.2 m

MQ-9 Reaper

USA

4,760 kg

313 km/h

1,900 km

1,700 kg

14 hour

15,420 m

Hongdu GJ-11

China

20,215 kg

1000 km/h

4,000 km

12,500 m

Kronshtadt Orion

Russia

1,000 kg

120 km/h

250 km

200 kg

24 hour

8,000 m

TAI Anka-S

Turkiye

1,700 kg

204 km/h

1,448 km

350 kg

30 hour

9,144 m

TAI Aksungur

Turkiye

3,300 kg

250 km/h

6,500 km

750 kg

60 hour

12,192 m

IAI Heron

Israel

1,150 kg

207 km/h

250 kg

52 hour

10,000 m

Elbit Hermes 450

Israel

130 km/h

300 km

180 kg

17 hour

5,500 m

It should be noted that these indicators were taken from open sources. Maybe there are UAVs in secret and still undisclosed sources with higher technical indicators and opportunities. As we do not have the opportunity to enter these sources.

We should be content with the figures we have and think based on them.

Besides the countries mentioned in the table Canada, Great Britain, India, and some other countries achieved great achievements in UAV production. However, the UAVs of these countries are not included in this table due to the lack of information on the results of tests and specific combat operations produced by the UAVs of these countries.

It would not be right not to stress Israel especially while speaking about UAV-producing countries. Israel has already been dealing with the production of various purpose drones for many years. However, Israel is considered a leader country in the world for the production of kamikaze drones.

The purpose of kamikaze drones is different, they are used just once. UAVs, which are compared and noted in the table, are multifunctional. They can carry shells, explosives, and luggage for other purposes, implement different tasks, not used for once. Thus, a comparison of these UAVs with kamikaze drones would not be right.

Leading countries of the world for the production of battle drones are considered the US, China, and Turkey. There is serious competition among countries in the direction of improvement of tactical-technical features. From this point of view, analysis of UAVs, which attract more attention for -technical features, UAVs, which have concrete combat results, have been included in the table.

As “maximum altitude”, “level of performance”, and “maximum flight altitude” among indicators are considered main parameters, as a result, Turkish UAVs are observed to be more effective in comparison with other countries.

Another success of Turkey in the military industry is that Turkey has set a goal of settlement of production of UAV components, a supply-chain process in the country fully.

One of the main points in UAV production, as well as in the military industry is the profitability of UAVs from an expenditures point of view during combat, the ability to implement a military operation successfully without casualty.

A fact reflected in the article of the European Council on Foreign Relations entitled “Turkey’s drone diplomacy: Lessons for Europe”, attracts attention at that point. It is noted in the article that Turkish UAVs are both cheap and effective. Price of a Bayraktar TB2 is about USD 5 million. However, a US-produced MQ-09 Reaper UAV costs USD 20 million.

“Before that, Turkey gets an important role in a sector dominated by US, Israel, and China,” noted in the text.

As is already mentioned, the interest of some countries in the Turkish UAVs has further increased after the Karabakh war. Alongside the Turkish Army, the armies of Azerbaijan, Qatar, and Ukraine also use this system. Pakistan has already started the process of developing its own drone together with Turkey. After a short period of operation of Chinese drones, Nigeria, Morocco, and Turkmenistan have started to purchase Turkish UAVs. Kyrgyzstan has also announced that it will purchase drones from Turkey in order to protect its southern borders.

In addition, on May 26-29 of this year, the TEKNOFEST Azerbaijan Aerospace and Technology Festival will be organized in Baku. Within the framework of the festival to be held under the organization of the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport, several competitions, as well as Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) competition will be held. The aim is to increase students' interest in aerospace and unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as to form fundamental flight knowledge and skills.

Now Selcuk Bayraktar is the Chairman of TEKNOFEST Supervisory Board which has been already turned into an international trend and head of the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation).

Turkey continues to get new achievements in the field of producing combat drones. The brotherly country is one of the world's leading military-industrial countries with its success through applying a new generation of high technologies.

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