Turkey has moved forward on the hypersonic kamikaze UAV
TAI first talked about the idea of turning the drone into a cruise missile or kamikaze drone last year when Turkey tested its Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) deployment.
Today, TUSAŞ Deputy General Director Ömer Yıldız said: “Right now we are flying subsonic (below the speed of sound). But within 6 months, we will have a new target aircraft that will fly at a speed of 0.8- Mach 0.9.”
The truth is that work has begun on the supersonic (faster than sound) flight of the “Şimşek”, which is designed to be used as a “target aircraft” by the Turkish Aerospace Industry (TUSAŞ) and can also be converted into a drone. drone kamikaze.
Yildiz claims that after increasing the speed of the drone to supersonic, its operator can decide how to use it.
If the Simsek is loaded with special ammunition, the drone becomes a kamikaze capable of destroying any target.
According to the company’s deputy general manager, the UAV operator should not expect to hit very large targets.
“However, the possibility of Simsek performing critical tasks at critical times is huge,” Yildiz said.
The aforementioned developments highlight two questions of major importance for Athens. First, how will it balance the Turkish advantage in drones? Second, how will it deter, if necessary, any drone business against it?
Sources from the Armed Forces emphasize that the development and use of advanced drones will be a catalyst for the effectiveness of the Greek weapons. And this is because, as they point out, drones will contribute to a series of activities, such as in the operational sector, but also in the collection of information, while they will act as a power multiplier of the country’s deterrent capacity.
An example is the action of the Greek Armed Forces, when last year overflights of Turkish drones were detected over the – under construction – Evros fence, as well as in the sky within the airspace of Greece.
Radars with instead of drone technology were immediately installed in the border area, suitable also for the “blinding” of the “flying eyes” of the Turkish state, while at the same time the – under construction – fence in Evros was reinforced with additional cameras of modern technology.
As for the cameras, they are of modern technology and of course thermal, while they have the ability to “see” at a distance of even 100 km and detect points of movement and activity.
After the widespread use of Turkish UAVs and the new aggressive attitude of the Turks in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, the Greek side decided in a special meeting that our country should react, so that the Greek armed forces do not find themselves fait accompli.
In a reasonable future period, our country will be able to set up “watchdogs” in the Aegean to catch “Turkish owls”, i.e. Turkish drones -UAVs, since the first Greek TILEMACHOS radar detects small drones as equipped UAVs with a range of 20 km .will take effect.
Discussions are ongoing between Greece and Israel, for the supply of systems to deal with and shoot down drones and UAVs.
These mainly concern two systems: Skylock and Skylord. These are systems aimed at the electronic neutralization of enemy drones and not at shooting them down.
