The TAI Anka is a family of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries for the requirements of its Turkish Armed Forces. Basic Anka-A is descibed as Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Visualized in the early 2000s for tactical surveillance and reconnaissance missions, the Anka has made progress towards the integration of Synthetic Aperture Radar and combat systems. Anka has made Turkey the 3rd country in the world that can design and produce MALE UAV’s after USA and Israel. The name of the drone is inspired from a phoenix-like mythological creature Angha.
A TUAV system consists of three air vehicles (A/V), Ground Control Station (GCS), Ground Data Terminal (GDT), Automatic Take-off and Landing System (ATOLS), Transportable Image Exploitation System (TIES), Remote Video Terminal (RVT) and various Ground Support Equipment (GSE). The TUAV system, which is designed for night and day missions in unfavorable weather conditions, performs real time image intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, moving/stationery target detection, recognition, identification and tracking missions.
While the TIHA system has an open architecture to support other potential payloads and missions, within the context of the existing project the air vehicle is configured to carry the following payloads onboard:
• Electro-optic Color Day Camera (EO Day TV)
• Electro-optic/Forward Looking Infrared/Laser Range Finder/Laser Designator and Spotter Camera (EO/FLIR/LRF/LDS)
• Synthetic Aperture Radar/Ground Moving Target Indicator (SAR/GMTI)
• Inverse SAR (ISAR)
The whole composite airframe is composed of a monoblock fuselage, detachable wing and V-Tail, retractable landing gear, redundant control surfaces, avionics and payload bays and service doors. The sandwich skin structure is reinforced by composite or metallic frames, ribs and supports. Propelled by a pusher type heavy fuel engine, the aircraft is furnished with fuselage fuel tanks and fuel system, ice protection system, environmental control system, lighting system, redundant electrical system with battery backup and harness system.
The platform is also equipped with a digital flight control system, electro-mechanical actuators, and flight control sensor systems such as GPS, pitot-static, air data computer, navigation sensor, transducers, temperature, pressure, displacement sensors, etc. Various tasks are distributed along flight management computers and auxiliary control boxes. Identification and communication units and interface computers are employed in order to establish real time wide band communication and provide test and diagnostics functions. An air traffic radio is also integrated in the communication system for the integration of the aircraft into the civilian airspace. All flight critical equipment is dual or triple redundant and emergency modes of operational scenarios are taken into consideration for fail safe design.
UAV operations are supported by highly sophisticated ground control system with complete redundancy, developed by a domestic defense company Savronik. Whole mission segments of the air vehicle can be managed, monitored and controlled by a GCS. A pre-programmed mission plan can be loaded before the flight begins or can be altered during the flight. All the imagery stream of the payloads can be displayed and recorded in real time and all the payloads can be controlled from the GCS. ATOLS allows the air vehicle to perform its operation without operator intervention, including the most critical phases which are landing and take-off.
The contract regarding the development of an indigenous Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) system for the reconnaissance requirements of the Turkish Armed Forces became effective on 24 December 2004. Within the framework of the program, a total of three prototypes and ground systems will be designed, developed, manufactured and tested by mid-2011 as part of the prototype development phase. Subsequently in 2012, the serial production phase of Anka-A would be launched an additional 10 systems (meaning 30 air vehicles) built for the Turkish Air Force.
On 30 December 2010, the first TAI Anka unmanned aerial vehicle completed its debut flight, with 14 minutes of cruising, at 15:45 local time. Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül confirmed the flight. On 5 May 2011, TAI released the test flight video of Anka. Anka-A flew a test and calibration mission of 2h 30m. Turkish Aerospace Industries announced on the 25th of October 2011 that the ANKA had successfully completed its subsequent flight and landing tests and that it will now be in the Turkish Air Force inventory in 2012 that is much earlier than expected. Footage released by TAI also shows the ANKA landing successfully putting all speculation about its crash landings to rest. On November 22, 2011, the Anka held the follow-up test flight for 6 hours at 20,000 ft. The vehicle demonstrated its automatic take-off and landing system for the first time.
On January 5, 2012, Defence Industry Executive Committee authorized Undersecretariat for Defence Industries to commence talks with Turkish Aerospace Industries for the serial production of 10 Anka vehicles. On September 27, 2012, an Anka prototype crashed during a flight test due to a technical problem. On January 20, 2013, Anka completed acceptance tests by the Turkish Air Force. The final acceptance tests were conducted near Ankara, and involved an 18 hour long, 200 km ring flight. The tests also included a night landing in adverse weather conditions. The Anka has flown more than 140 hours and has reached an altitude of 26,000 feet. On May 13, 2013, the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, Kamra handed over the first batch of Anka UAV parts to Turkish Aerospace Industries during IDEF 2013 at Istanbul, Turkey.
Specifications
Crew: none
Length: 26.2 ft (8 m)
Wingspan: 56.7 ft (17.3 m)
Height: 11.1 ft (3.4m)
Wing area: 146.3 sq ft (13.6 m²)
Max. takeoff weight: 3527 lb (1600 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Thielert Centurion 2.0 turbocharged four-cylinder engine, 155 hp (114 kW)
Maximum speed: 135 mph (117 knots, 217 km/h)
Cruise speed: 126 mph (110 knots, 204 km/h)
Range: 3024 mi (4896 km)
Combat radius: 124 mi (200 km)
Endurance: 24 hours with 200 kg useful payload
Service ceiling: 30,000 ft (9,144 m)
Avionics: ASELFLIR-300T, SAR/GMTI, ISAR payload; INS/GPS and air data sensor suite system
TAI Anka was first posted on December 4, 2013 at 2:18 pm.
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