September 10, 2020. Developed by Turkish Aerospace (TUSAŞ) and ramping up to be included in the inventory, the AKSUNGUR High Payload Capacity UAV has brought critical capability as seen in the footage of the TEBER release shared via the Twitter account of the President of Defense Industries Prof. İsmail DEMİR. In his tweet which shared a video of the test sortie, Prof. DEMİR stated, "the TEBER laser guidance kit manufactured by Roketsan has been successfully released from a UAV as well an AKSUNGUR UAV for the first time.” 

From the footage it is observed that during the test sortie, the TEBER Laser-Guided 500lb MK-82 bomb was utilized and the target was shot with a slight deviation. With the TEBER Laser Guidance Kit 500lb MK-82 (TEBER-82) munition release, AKSUNGUR has acquired the capacity of carrying & releasing a minimum of one unique heavy munition. 

Upon the launch of the serial production of the ANKA product family, in August 2017, the Turkish Aerospace Unmanned Systems Department started to work on five different alternatives to develop an Unmanned Air Vehicle that can carry more payload and munitions. Following the presentation on this subject, the program was launched through company’s own funds in line with a Board decision. The conceptual design activities were accelerated in September 2018 over the selected design within the scope of the program. The System Requirements Review Meeting was completed on 18 October 2017 and the pre-design review meeting was held on 13 February 2018. Eventually, the review meeting for the detailed design took place on 20 June 2018. According to the 17-month program schedule, Turkish Aerospace launched the prototype production in a short span of time. To this end, a new wing was swiftly designed for the AKSUNGUR, the software and hardware of which were based on the ANKA configurations. These wings were designed within a group concept by Turkish Aerospace engineers. The wings are designed in forms of mid and outer wings, enabling both portability and to easily fit in the hangar. 

The prototype was first powered on 4 December 2018 and the AKSUNGUR was eventually rolled-out on 28 January 2019. Following this, the ground tests of the platform were launched on 17 February 2019. The ignition of the engine run-up occurred on 28 February 2019, and the taxi tests were launched on 7 March 2019. On 20 March 2019, the AKSUNGUR which has a 24-meter wingspan and is powered by twin engines, successfully accomplished its maiden flight which lasted 4 hours and 20 minutes.   

Two turbocharged PD170 diesel engines developed by TEI powered the platform for the maiden flight of the ANKA AKSUNGUR and thus the platform is the first user of the PD170 engines in Turkey. The AKSUNGUR is projected to complete its certification and qualification flights with the PD 170 engines. But the serial production configurations are going to lift-off with a pair of PD222 (165 KW) engines that are an upper version of the PD 170. TEI continues to develop the PD222 over the PD170 engine. 

AKSUNGUR has conducted nearly 60 flights with two prototypes so far, and during its 59th test flight on September 1, 2020 the platform broke a prominent record with its performance demonstrating 49 hours of endurance at an altitude of 20,000ft.  The platform had accumulated 250 flight hours during the test campaign according to 117th issue of  Turkish Aerospace Mag. 

The AKSUNGUR has an endurance capacity of 40 hours with a 750 kg payload at a 40,000ft altitude, as well as 3.3-ton maximum take-off weight. Thanks to the open system architecture, allowing different operation concepts, the platform is able to carry various payloads and ammunition. For Maritime Patrol Missions, it will have an endurance capacity of 12 hours at an altitude of 25,000ft with a 750 kg payload. Throughout SIG/INT Missions its endurance capacity will be 24 hours at 40,000ft with a 150kg payload. The platform is able to carry an EO/ Infrared/ Laser Designator/ Laser Range Finder Camera, SAR/GMTI-ISAR Camera, Wide Area Surveillance, SIGINT, COMINT/DF and ESM/ELINT payload options in respect with the Imagery Intelligence mission. Last, but not least, regarding Maritime Patrol Missions, the platform features SAR/GMTI-ISAR, automatic identification system, sonobuoy mission pod and MAD Boom payload options. In terms of communication systems payloads, the platform contains SATCOM Satellite Communication, Personnel Locator System (PLS), V/UHF Radio Relay and communication service pod as well. In terms of ammunition, the AKSUNGUR features 3 weapon stations on each wing with capacities of 500 Kg, 300 Kg and 150Kg. The TEBER-81 (laser guided MK-81), TEBER-82 (laser guided MK-82), LUMTAS, MAM-L, CİRİT, MAM-C, HGK-3 (Precision Guidance Kit) and KGK (82) (Winged Guidance Kit) and Small Diameter Bombs could be carried within these stations. On May 10, 2020, TÜBİTAK SAGE Institute Manager Gürcan OKUMUŞ shared through his Twitter account that the process had been launched for the integration of Precision Guidance Kits and Wing Assisted Guidance Kits to AKSUNGUR and ANKA+ unmanned air vehicles. 

TEBER-82:

TEBER Laser Guidance Kit’s development activities were launched through the own resources of Roketsan in 2014 and the munition is capable of converting the MK82 and MK81 series general-purpose bombs to smart weapon with 3 meters of CEP accuracy. The Inertial Navigation System (INS), Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Laser Seeker (with the DDA-2 photodetector manufactured by TÜBİTAK BİLGEM) it features, in addition to fixed targets TEBER Laser Guidance Kit can be used for the land and surface targets moving at high speed (45 km/h). The F-16 calibration sortie of the TEBER Laser Guidance Kit was carried out successfully in June 2016, and with the help of its Proximity Sensor, it could be released over 2 to 15 meters over the target. TEBER-82 weighs 270 kg and the weight of TEBER-81 is 155 kg. TEBER Guidance Kit’s accuracy with merely INS is 25 meters and with INS/GPS it has an accuracy of 10 meters. Its CEP accuracy with the Laser Seeker on the other hand is 3 meters and lower. TEBER Laser Guidance Kit can be used up to a range of 28 km. Deliveries of TEBER-82 were launched in the second half of 2018.