New Turkish Kemankes loitering munition begins testing

Turkish drone maker Baykar has begun testing its new jet-powered Kemankes 2 loitering munition. The news came less than a year after the Kemankes was test-fired from a TB2 UAV.

The new version was said to be AI-powered and the recent test was conducted with a launch from speed pickup.

Specific capabilities and details of the Kemankes 2 were not revealed, but a video (see below) released by the manufacturer provided a glimpse of its features. The new cruise missile loitering munition appeared to be significantly larger than its predecessor, the Kemankes, which weighed 30 kg with a capacity for 6kg warheads.

Parts of the missile, including the wing, the engine and the tail fins, closely resembled the KaGeM-V3 which was jointly developed with Pakistan.

Equipped with an unknown jet engine enabling rapid travel and boasting a one-hour flight duration, the Kemankes 2 was designed to conduct deep-strike missions on high-priority targets. Baykar has claimed it has a range of more than 200km.

While the first Kemankes has been designed to be air-launched from Baykar UAVs such as the Akinci, Bayraktar TB2 and Bayraktar TB3, it was not clear what launch options the Kemankes 2 would feature once fully developed.