Anka UAV takes to the skies

[Jigs]

Turkey’s first national MALE-class (medium altitude long endurance) unmanned aerial vehicle, dubbed “Anka” after an Anatolian bird, made its maiden flight without much of a publicity just before the New Year’s Day, TRDEFENCE sources reported on Sunday.

Anka is vastly superior to its competition (such as the Heron of Israeli origin) in the same category thanks to its heavier payload capacity, long flight time of 24 hours, higher flight ceiling and state-of-the-art electrooptical instruments that include Aselsan’s next-generation AselFLIR 300T, laser target designator and an indigenously developed synthetic aperture radar (SAR) that can detect, identify and track targets day and night, beyond thick layers of cloud, dust and smoke.

Anka also carries on-board artificial intelligence that enables the aircraft to fly autonomously without the requirement for remote human assistance, find allied airbases in the event of an emergency and land automatically.

An armed version of the aircraft, codenamed Anka-B, is currently under development in Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) with further funding from Turkey’s Undersecretariat for Defence Industries, SSM. Reports indicate that Anka-B’s modular weapons architecture will be able to carry Roketsan-developed Cirit laser guided rockets, UMTAS anti-tank missiles and/or other compatible weapon systems depending on the assigned mission.

Anka features low radar observatibility courtesy of its thin profile, carbon composite structures that minimize the usage of highly reflective metal components as well as its aerodynamically efficient design.

The first Anka is expected to be commissioned by TurAF in 2011 with the armed Anka-B following it up in 2013.

 

[Archdemon]

Damn it! all that barging without any factual data! First of all heron is a family of IAI UAV, the one that was sold to turks by the name MAHATZ-1/SHOVAL-1/HERON-1 which is after all superior to anka on the paper and not as your article states!

ANKA-24-endurance-40h-HERON1
ANKA-200kg-payload-250kg-HERON1
ANKA-30,000ft-Altitude-30,000ft-HERON1
ANKA-200km-range within line of sight-350km-HERON1(Range with satellite Beyond Line of Sight)

so how exactly is it superior to HERON1?

And on top of this ANKA is only in trials while HERON1 have thousands of operational flight hours worldwide! what next, you will claim that ANKA is superior to Heron-TP?

 

[[TR]AHMET]

You said to us 30.000 feet but your herons don't pass 21.000 feet. Your features a big lie.

 

[damm1t]

Damn it! all that barging without any factual data! First of all heron is a family of IAI UAV, the one that was sold to turks by the name MAHATZ-1/SHOVAL-1/HERON-1 which is after all superior to anka on the paper and not as your article states!

ANKA-24-endurance-40h-HERON1
ANKA-200kg-payload-250kg-HERON1
ANKA-30,000ft-Altitude-30,000ft-HERON1
ANKA-200km-range within line of sight-350km-HERON1(Range with satellite Beyond Line of Sight)

so how exactly is it superior to HERON1?

And on top of this ANKA is only in trials while HERON1 have thousands of operational flight hours worldwide! what next, you will claim that ANKA is superior to Heron-TP?

chill out dude, nobody rejects that israel has huge experience in the field, but the bird what we are devoloping is really promising, ANKA is a big and nice step for this long marathon..

which country can produce a drone superior to other ones at first shot, i mean indigenously? whatever you say, i love this bird and believe me its gonna be sexier, stronger and wilder soon .. FOLLOW

 

[Archdemon]

You said to us 30.000 feet but your herons don't pass 21.000 feet. Your features a big lie.

For every airframe there is a specific configuration of areas for variety of loads depended on center of gravity and aerodynamics of particular platform. ASELFLIR300 system is an exceptionally heavy to mount at the nose of Heron-1, overall weight of 116kg which 93kg(38% of Heron-1 payload capacity) of them should be mounted at the nose, if you look at heron you will see that the distance between nose and rotor(engine the primary counterbalance) is significantly shorter than overall length of craft therefore little room to play with configuration and load distribution. The main load point of Heron-1 as i see it is at the center of fuselage due to engine and wings(the main load carrier) configuration. I don't know why the ASELFLIR mounted at the nose instead of center, but problem was solved after engine upgrade to more powerful(and heavier). So the problem was not in platform overall performance but in a single heavy unit mounted way off from center of gravity. ANKA is more suitable to carry heavier loads at the nose due to longer fuselage and wings location. It is all about balance.

 

[[TR]AHMET]

For every airframe there is a specific configuration of areas for variety of loads depended on center of gravity and aerodynamics of particular platform. ASELFLIR300 system is an exceptionally heavy to mount at the nose of Heron-1, overall weight of 116kg which 93kg(38% of Heron-1 payload capacity) of them should be mounted at the nose, if you look at heron you will see that the distance between nose and rotor(engine the primary counterbalance) is significantly shorter than overall length of craft therefore little room to play with configuration and load distribution. The main load point of Heron-1 as i see it is at the center of fuselage due to engine and wings(the main load carrier) configuration. I don't know why the ASELFLIR mounted at the nose instead of center, but problem was solved after engine upgrade to more powerful(and heavier). So the problem was not in platform overall performance but in a single heavy unit mounted way off from center of gravity. ANKA is more suitable to carry heavier loads at the nose due to longer fuselage and wings location. It is all about balance.

Ok, this way you should not submit to UAV bid. There was ASELFLIR tender conditions. Behold your UAVs carrying 250 kg? you always say lie....

 

[Archdemon]

chill out dude, nobody rejects that israel has huge experience in the field, but the bird what we are devoloping is really promising, ANKA is a big and nice step for this long marathon..

which country can produce a drone superior to other ones at first shot, i mean indigenously? whatever you say, i love this bird and believe me its gonna be sexier, stronger and wilder soon .. FOLLOW

It is indeed big step, and you should be proud! but not at the expense of diminishing proved and with wast experience platform with on-par/superior performance! ANKA is very beautiful, but it is not the designation of UAVs to look beautiful, they to carry payloads for longer time/distance/altitude.

 

[Archdemon]

Ok, this way you should not submit to UAV bid. There was ASELFLIR tender conditions. Behold your UAVs carrying 250 kg? you always say lie....

Why not, didnt IAI resolve the issue?
Indeed! we always lie! and Brazil Australia Canada Ecuador France Germany India United States all of them took the bait even you Turks! all fell for the lie...Right?

I guess when TAI say that ANKA can carry 200kg it means that it doesn't matter where to mount the load, even if it would be on a tip of a wing, it wouldn't effect the performance of ANKA at all, right? the hell with physics! you live in your own world therefore your own rules! right?

 

[farhan_9909]

COngratulation to turkey

 

[-------]

Why not, didnt IAI resolve the issue?
Indeed! we always lie! and Brazil Australia Canada Ecuador France Germany India United States all of them took the bait even you Turks! all fell for the lie...Right?

I guess when TAI say that ANKA can carry 200kg it means that it doesn't matter where to mount the load, even if it would be on a tip of a wing, it wouldn't effect the performance of ANKA at all, right? the hell with physics! you live in your own world therefore your own rules! right?

Slapping a bigger engine on the Heron took how many years, and even then it still doesn't perform to the specs you posted. Not only that, during the Trials Heron constantly lost sync with the ground station for durations of 5mins, which is a hell ova long time to be out of sync for a multi million dollar plane.

So is Heron superior to the Anka in Turkish configuration, i doubt it. But of course Anka is yet to prove it's on paper specs, it has yet to fly with a payload.

 

[Archdemon]

Slapping a bigger engine on the Heron took how many years, and even then it still doesn't perform to the specs you posted. Not only that, during the Trials Heron constantly lost sync with the ground station for durations of 5mins, which is a hell ova long time to be out of sync for a multi million dollar plane.

So is Heron superior to the Anka in Turkish configuration, i doubt it. But of course Anka is yet to prove it's on paper specs, it has yet to fly with a payload.

After upgrade it did perform to the specification, otherwise it be violation of contract terms!Turks easily could have asked for their money back and compensation for delaying them from procurement of needed system, or you saying that you Turks are suckers? why to upgrade engine if it... Delays are common, especially in new systems/reconfiguration, ANKA maiden flight delayed by 3 moths, Heron-1 delivery was delayed by one year(due to reconfiguration), Turkish AWACS delayed by two years!!! but i don't see you whining on that, why? oh because you don't possess such technology(domestic AWACS) at all!

"constantly lost sync with the ground"? only once as was reported! and backup system was initiated as planned! glitches are part of any system therefore there are backups.

 

[-------]

After upgrade it did perform to the specification, otherwise it be violation of contract terms!Turks easily could have asked for their money back and compensation for delaying them from procurement of needed system, or you saying that you Turks are suckers?

TAI was the main contractor, if compensation was initiated TAI would be more at loss then IAI. Plus Turkey needed these UAVs urgently not that it mattered anymore, because the flight altitude is below the needed altitude to take effect in the south east.

why to upgrade engine if it... Delays are common, especially in new systems/reconfiguration, ANKA maiden flight delayed by 3 moths, Heron-1 delivery was delayed by one year(due to reconfiguration), Turkish AWACS delayed by two years!!! but i don't see you whining on that, why? oh because you don't possess such technology(domestic AWACS) at all!

No one knows when Anka's maiden flight was, not even official images were released. Why was Heron's delivery delayed at all ? Didn't IAI have full knowledge of payload that was going to be integrated ? Poor planning skills by IAI.

Contract signed in 2005, delivery was set for 2007. 1 YEAR my daireeair.

There is no need for urgency on the AWAC front, they can take another year to get the system working perfectly if they want.

"constantly lost sync with the ground"? only once as was reported! and backup system was initiated as planned! glitches are part of any system therefore there are backups.

Once huh, it was a constant problem. And the only way of fixing that problem was to reduce it's communication range. Elbit did good on their part didn't they

 

[500]

TAI was the main contractor, if compensation was initiated TAI would be more at loss then IAI. Plus Turkey needed these UAVs urgently not that it mattered anymore, because the flight altitude is below the needed altitude to take effect in the south east.

If Turkey needed UAV urgently it could simply order Herons in original configuration like everyone do. But Turkey wanted to gain experience for own UAV program.

Why was Heron's delivery delayed at all ? Didn't IAI have full knowledge of payload that was going to be integrated ? Poor planning skills by IAI.

It was unusual request that no one else was ready to do. You should say thanks for IAI making for Turkey something that no one else agreed.

There is no need for urgency on the AWAC front, they can take another year to get the system working perfectly if they want.

There was no urgency in this contract either because leased Herons were working since 2007.

Furthmore, AWACS is much much more critical for country defence than dozen UAVs. And unlike Heron, Being's AWACS had plenty alternatives.

Once huh, it was a constant problem. And the only way of fixing that problem was to reduce it's communication range. Elbit did good on their part didn't they

Its funny that Turkey only country that experienced problems with Herons.

 

[Cerian]

If Turkey needed UAV urgently it could simply order Herons in original configuration like everyone do. But Turkey wanted to gain experience for own UAV program.

It was unusual request that no one else was ready to do. You should say thanks for IAI making for Turkey something that no one else agreed.

It was a business transaction. If IAI didn't think that they can deliver what was on the contract, they wouldn't have sign it in the first place.

Furthmore, AWACS is much much more critical for country defence than dozen UAVs. And unlike Heron, Being's AWACS had plenty alternatives.

True unless you take deterrence power of NATO out of equation.

Its funny that Turkey only country that experienced problems with Herons.

Promised upgrades didn't work that well. What's funny with that?

 

[Archdemon]

TAI was the main contractor, if compensation was initiated TAI would be more at loss then IAI. Plus Turkey needed these UAVs urgently not that it mattered anymore, because the flight altitude is below the needed altitude to take effect in the south east.

It doesn't matter main contractor or not, it had only 30% of subsystems integration.

No one knows when Anka's maiden flight was, not even official images were released.

December 30 2010, one image was released.

Why was Heron's delivery delayed at all ? Didn't IAI have full knowledge of payload that was going to be integrated ? Poor planning skills by IAI.

reconfiguration->integration

Contract signed in 2005, delivery was set for 2007. 1 YEAR my daireeair.

The contract deadline was initially set at 24-30 months, first herons were delivered in late 2008

There is no need for urgency on the AWAC front, they can take another year to get the system working perfectly if they want.

As 500 stated, if turkey had urgency they could have lease UAV, AWACS are of a much strategic importance than UAV for surveillance

Once huh, it was a constant problem. And the only way of fixing that problem was to reduce it's communication range. Elbit did good on their part didn't they

I really would like to see source to this dubious information




Turkey's 1st MALE UAV Makes Test Flight - Defense News


it said that the maiden flight was December 30

"TAI officials said the ANKA would eventually fly up to 23,000 feet for 23 hours."

That is puzzling, is it bad translation or actual official data?