Turkish Navy receives the first domestically produced Aksungur UAV

The Turkish Navy received the first domestically produced MALE UAV, Aksungur, on 20 October.

The UAV is the latest combat drone from Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI). It can fly for 50h, carry up to 750kg of payload and is capable of long-endurance operations at an altitude of up to 40,000ft.

Aksungur can perform uninterrupted multi-role intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and attack missions with its high payload capacity and provide BLoS operational flexibility with its SATCOM payload.

The platform’s maiden flight was completed in Match 2019 and it was first publicly revealed at IDEF 2019 in Istanbul.

TAI funded the development of UAV alone, with the expectation to receive orders from the Turkish Armed Forces as the military were involved in the Aksungur’s development.

The contract was received following the first flight and the platform entered into mass production in December 2020.

Four Aksungurs will be delivered to the Turkish Armed Forces by the end of 2021, with this delivery marking the first in the series.