Date: Issue 108 - July 2021
The 3rd Efficiency & Technology Fair was recently held between June 9-12 this year and Aselsan Engineer Cihan PİRİMOĞLU made a presentation titled "Aselsan Electro-Optical Solutions for our National UCAVs", sharing important information about Aselsan's CATS and ASELFLIR-F500C electro-optical (E/O) systems that were developed for fixed and rotary wing platforms, and the ASELFLIR-600 system, which is still in the design process.
The Common Aperture Targeting System (CATS), the first product developed by Aselsan for national UAV/UCAV platforms, takes its name from its system architecture. Developed with Aselsan's own resources, CATS was designed to increase the targeting, reconnaissance & surveillance capabilities of medium altitude unmanned aerial vehicles in all weather conditions, day and night. The Common Aperture of CATS has a Cassegrain structure that is optimized to receive all wavelengths (thermal, daylight, SWIR) with the same optical lens, unlike equivalent systems. In this way, high electro-optical performance is achieved in a small volume with a single optical window for all imaging channels. Additionally, thanks to the Common Aperture, different sensors that do not normally fit inside a certain gimbal volume can be integrated into a single system, unlike Distributed Aperture E/O systems.