Fail to understand Erdogan statement .... KSA already have Turkish drone with load.
SAUDI ARABIA INKS DRONE MANUFACTURING DEAL
March 16, 2021
Photo Source: INTRA Defense Technologies
Daily News
May 6, 2020
Quwa Team -
SAUDI ARABIA INKS DRONE MANUFACTURING DEAL
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Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Military Industries (GAMI) announced that it will acquire 46 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) from local defence vendor INTRA Defense Technologies.
The UAV acquisition will start in Q1 2021 at a projected cost of $199.5 million US.
Neither GAMI or INTRA revealed the type or specifications of the drone, but INTRA showcases two drone types in its product portfolio: the
ASEF vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) UAV, and the
Karayel combat-capable UAV. Thus, GAMI’s order is likely for one (or both) of these UAVs.
The Karayel was developed by the Turkish company Vestel, which unveiled the armed UAV in 2017 at the Dubai Air Show. With a wingspan of 13 m, the Karayel offers an endurance of eight hours when equipped with a payload of 120 kg. If equipped with solely a 50 kg electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) sensor suite, the Karayel can operate for 20 hours and reach an altitude of 18,000 ft.
It should be noted that INTRA’s UAV is among several programs in Saudi Arabia. In 2017, the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) revealed its own UAV design,
the Saqr-1. Likewise, there had also been reports of
KACST manufacturing Chinese CH-series UAVs under license.
Given the mandate of GAMI (i.e., to promote Saudi Arabia’s defence industry), INTRA will commit to locally manufacture the UAVs. Moreover, INTRA’s CEO Salman Al-Shathri
said that his company will localize 60% of the program’s total value across both production and maintenance. He added that the program will generate around 500 jobs, of which 70% will go to Saudi Arabia.
In addition, INTRA is also aiming to export the UAVs to other markets.
Janes reported ..
Karayel UAV lost over Yemen
by Jeremy Binnie
The Yemeni rebel group Ansar Allah (the Houthis) claimed on 30 December that it shot down a Turkish-developed Karayel unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over Al-Hudaydah province as part of an escalated air defence campaign.
A still from a video released by Ansar Allah (Houthis) on 31 December 2019 shows armed men recovering the wreckage of an aircraft identified as a Karayel UAV operated by Saudi Arabia (Ansar Allah)
The group’s website cited its military spokesman as saying the Karayel was operated by Saudi Arabia and was brought down with a surface-to-air missile (SAM) near the Red Sea port of Al-Salif.
It supported this claim with a video purportedly showing the SAM being launched during the night and armed men carrying the wreckage of an aircraft that matched a Karayel from the sea the following day. The air defence system used in the engagement was not shown.
The Karayel was developed by the Turkish company Vestel Defence Industry, which told
Jane’s in 2016 that it was operating the type on behalf of the Turkish Land Forces. The company unveiled the Karayel-SU extended-wing variant that can be armed with Roketsan MAM-L and MAM-C guided bombs at the Dubai Air Show in November 2017.
The Karayel was not previously known to be in service with the Saudi military. The downed aircraft may have been operated on its behalf by Intra Defense Technologies, a Saudi company that advertises the Karayel as one of its products and offers “end-to-end” UAV surveillance and reconnaissance services for both military and civil customers.
