Turkish ANKA-3 to break new ground on UAVs PHOTO

ANKA-3 is a very different drone from the unmanned aerial vehicles Türkiye has had so far, with its flying wing design it has a history of its own.

Before getting into what the ANKA-3 means for the Turkish defence industry, a brief overview of the process is in order, according to TRT Haber.

In fact, Ankara has wanted to take steps towards the aircraft of the future since the early 2000s. In this context, one of the first projects was the NEURON programme to develop unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The project mainly involved the production of an experimental combat unmanned aerial vehicle developed with international cooperation. The project participants were France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The aim was to develop an autonomous UAV with very low visibility that could operate in medium- to high-activity combat zones.

Ankara's official application in 2005, which wanted to participate in the project, was rejected by France. The reason given was that the team was formed, the work was divided between industry partners and a new partner could only be hired after the first test flight of the NEURON UAV.

The first flight was due in 2011, which meant Türkiye would have had to wait six years without doing anything about it.

According to those who have followed events closely, Greece influenced this decision by France, and the Athens administration engaged in serious lobbying activities to keep Türkiye out of the project under consideration.

Türkiye was not accepted into the European UAV programme, which was announced 20 years ago, because supposedly "there is no room"...

Our "bad neighbour" made our country the owner of ANKA-3, which today leading European countries cannot even dream of, while Türkiye has created one of the best platforms in the world in this field.

ANKA-3 is one of the best strategic platforms ever built by Türkiye. Although some of its technical features have been announced, we need to wait a little longer to find the answers to the most curious questions.

The ANKA-3 and the National Combat Aircraft Unit (MMU) come out under the same roof, giving them the ability to fly with each other in a faithful wingman concept. As a matter of fact, the MMU- ANKA-3 duo deserves to be defined as an "extremely lethal duo" for Türkiye’s armed forces.

"Faithful wingman" is an important detail in this concept; manned and unmanned combat aircraft fly together in the same formation. If there is a very high-risk mission ahead, the pilot directs the drones flying with him to that target. Also, unmanned combat aircraft can operate as a unit without a manned aircraft.

The ANKA-3 will break new ground in the UAV field with its jet engine and speed, large payload and almost invisible on radar tail-less design.