GÜRBAĞ: `Our Greatest Expertise in Hydrogen-Fed Intelligent Defense System GIDS, We Can Control Hydrogen`
Defence Turkey: At SAHA EXPO 2022, we met with Alper GÖRGÜLÜ, Vice Chairman of the Board of GÜRBAĞ Defense Technologies. We will get first-hand information about the GIDS system, which they introduced at the fair. You are participating in this fair for the first time. Can we get some information about GÜRBAĞ company?
Alper GÖRGÜLÜ: We were established in 2018 under the umbrella of the GÜRBAĞ Group and started R&D activities. However, we were officially established in 2020. Our team has around 15 years of experience. We entered the defense industry because we are a group of people working with technology. The biggest reason we started under the umbrella of GÜRBAĞ Group is to be included in a large platform and continue with a company with a solid financial and institutional infrastructure. GÜRBAĞ Defense produces its own designs, develops its software, and carries out integration within itself. In fact, we have gathered all our capabilities so far on a single product with GIDS. The biggest feature of GIDS is the hydrogen-fed propulsion system used in the launcher. To put it more accurately, it launches munitions with in-situ-produced hydrogen without any storage equipment. It is a derivative of cold launch technology. It is an integrated system that can detect all elements with radar in a 5 km area and transfer target data obtained through radar and electro-optical payloads to the command-control center.
Defence Turkey: The first thing that comes to mind in such a platform is the cost-effectiveness, as other companies prefer, and the use of electronic control systems, partly because of current technology. You set out with a solution we do not often see in our country, such as a hydrogen-propelled launcher. This also reflects your experience with hydrogen. What are the technical reasons behind this choice? Did you choose a new technology such as hydrogen because you thought this product would do better this way?
Alper GÖRGÜLÜ: First of all, it's a cost-effective solution since we produce hydrogen from water. As you know, other launch methods are very costly, and the launcher gets damaged after firing on other systems. So, they have a limited service life. We don't have any service life-related issues; you can fire continuously. At the same time, we provide excellent backblast safety, which means you can integrate it into any platform. Since the hydrogen turns into water vapor after a certain distance, it does not cause any thermal signature.
Defence Turkey: As far as we know, the use of hydrogen technology positively affects the firing rate of the system, right?
Alper GÖRGÜLÜ: Yes. First of all, hydrogen has the smallest atomic radius of all materials. Naturally, its detonation velocity and burning velocity are very high. We do not use any combustion in our system. It provides several advantages as we launch munitions by only using pressure. This system can load 16 cells in the launcher (with hydrogen) and fire all 16 of them in 5 seconds. It becomes ready to fire again after 5 seconds.
Defence Turkey: Does manual reloading take time?
Alper GÖRGÜLÜ: You only load the drone. Since the system has an onboard generator, it produces hydrogen and does not store it. The system can be safely adapted to every platform as it does not store hydrogen. However, integration on naval platforms is very complicated. Due to the dynamics of the naval vessels, you need to ensure the safety of the backblast area. Hydrogen becomes very valuable here.
Defence Turkey: Hydrogen technology brings many advantages to the user, but these systems will be deployed on the battlefield and used by soldiers. So, are this product needs extra attention in terms of maintenance?
Alper GÖRGÜLÜ: On the contrary, it requires less maintenance. This is because you use combustible materials in other launch methods. Since hydrogen is completely transformed into water vapor, it does not damage the mechanism and mechanical assembly, so its maintenance is much easier, and its service life is much, much longer. The most significant feature of this system is that we have integrated everything on a single mast, including its radar and electro-optic system.
Defence Turkey: Can the system work autonomously?
Alper GÖRGÜLÜ: It can operate autonomously, and we have many capabilities on this system - for example, our 6-axis pan-tilt mount. Launchers can turn separately and independently. While one looks at 90 degrees, the other can rotate at 45 degrees. Of course, this automatically ensures that the system can protect both the rear and the front.
Defence Turkey: It has very interesting features and capabilities. So, what is GÜRBAĞ's work share in this product? The GIDS system, for example, has a ground control station and an operator console.
Alper GÖRGÜLÜ: That's an excellent question. They are all our products, and we developed the software. Since the GIDS system's most important feature is its fully integrated operation capability, the software can be managed from a single panel. Radar or optics doesn't use different software. Since they are all managed from a single interface, there is no delay, and they work fully integrated. The pan-tilt mount family on the system is our production, the radar and optics are from our business partners, and all the other material you see is our product.
Defence Turkey: You stated that you could launch 16 munitions (STM-Alpagu) in 5 seconds. So, can you control these 16 munitions from a single console? Do they also have additional features, such as the swarm attack capability?
Alper GÖRGÜLÜ: You can control 20 loitering munitions in different directions. You can recall them with the communication protocol on the system. So you can cancel the mission without causing casualties or damaging assets. Of course, when you recall the drones, they do not enter the launcher. Instead, they are recovered with a parachute. However, this mainly depends on ALPAGU. What is important for us are communications, launching, reconnaissance, surveillance, and target tracking.
Defence Turkey: Is it possible to integrate different kamikaze drones (loitering munitions) into the GIDS system by enlarging the launcher?
Alper GÖRGÜLÜ: We talked about using ALPAGUT loitering munition, which was introduced at the SAHA Expo, in our system. Hopefully, we will announce it soon.
Defence Turkey: It's a high-tech solution with more than 15 years of knowledge behind it, a serious investment. Is there any interest from Türkiye or abroad considering all these investments? What kind of feedback did you receive during the SAHA Expo?
Alper GÖRGÜLÜ: It received more attention than we expected, both from the Turkish Armed Forces and abroad. We met with about 12 delegations from abroad. We aim to use the system first in Türkiye and then export it abroad. We have completed P&D (product development), but as you know that R&D never ends. In general, it is requested to protect critical areas such as airports, oil refineries, and military facilities. You need to provide a cost-effective system for this type of task. The cost of the munitions is important, and how you launch is also important.
Defence Turkey: So, what is the technological readiness level of your product? Is it ready to use? When will you perform a demonstration for potential customers? Can you share a timeline?
Alper GÖRGÜLÜ: We have conducted 200 tests with our system. We cannot say that the firing tests have been completed, but we can say that it has reached a certain level in our opinion.
Defence Turkey: Did you carry out the 200 launch tests with ALPAGU or with different munitions and empty launchers?
Alper GÖRGÜLÜ: We used dummy loads with the same weight as ALPAGU in the firing tests because the development process of ALPAGU has not yet been completed. It is also a very valuable project. ALPAGU is about to be ready. We are ready as the launcher platform with our product. Of course, you know the processes in the defense industry. It will take some time. Except for the launcher, the qualification process for all the products on the shelter you see at the fair has been completed. The launcher's qualification will also progress with the completion of ALPAGU. Of course, there are other alternatives in the meantime. STM may accelerate the development, or a foreign customer may request a different option for munitions. We don't know yet. We will see it in time. But right now we are ready with our product. As soon as you want a demonstration, we can perform it in 3 months. By the way, the system we exhibited at the fair is not a mock-up but a real product.
Defence Turkey: It is really an impressive product, especially hydrogen technology, which can provide new opportunities or possibilities in Türkiye. It has the potential to lead you not only in a land-based platform like GIDS but also in underwater vehicles such as manned or unmanned submarines. Could you also talk about your experience with hydrogen technology? Your company was established two years ago, but it's not something that can come out of nowhere.
Alper GÖRGÜLÜ: Of course, it did not happen out of anywhere; this product is the outcome of an R&D study that started 10 years ago. It was an R&D study that we did not announce and was carried out in secret. We have developed 1-2 products for the automotive industry. We had the opportunity to test it there. We have generators from battery-powered to the size of a room. We use both electrolysis and resonance together. This gives us a serious capability. Our most special expertise is that we can control hydrogen. Yes, there are several companies and institutions worldwide that are conducting some R&D activities with hydrogen, but I think we started at the right time and learned to control it. This capability comes from our biggest area of expertise: control and electromechanical systems. When combined with hydrogen systems, we can produce the right and effective products.
Defence Turkey: The right product at the right time. Thank you very much for taking the time.
