Thw new member of the Ultra-Wideband Radar Group developed for the Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB) by the STM Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik ve Tic. A.Ş. - the Stand - Off Through the Wall Radar System was introduced at the Eurosatory 2018 held on June 11 - 15 in Paris.

Mountable to vehicles, the UHTES is of critical importance in terms of maintaining the life and safety of police and the army engaged in challenging tasks.  The UHTES was developed domestically by the STM and security forces will be capable of detecting human presence behind the obstacles from a distance. Functioning mounted on vehicles, the UHTES plays a critical role in operational success by enabling the detection of human beings or living creatures within distant buildings, at the operations site executed in residential areas, when it is impossible to approach the target. 

The UHTES, which can be utilized in hostage operations, the fight against terrorism and similar operations, reflects STM’s latest radar technology.

With the help of its built-in battery, the UHTES system is capable of operating up to 1.5 hours without the support of a power supply while being able to operate for long hours on account of the power supply of the armored vehicle which it is mounted on. Penetrable to fixed and mobile targets from nearly 40 meters and various wall types, the UHTES is capable of moving to the right or left from an angle of 45 degrees and up and down in a 60 degree angle. The system is also able to define a metallic coating or barrier in front of the target blocking the RF signals as well as measuring the distance of the target from the radar. The UHTES system, the tests of which were completed, is additionally capable of 2D detection of the location of the target behind the building or the wall.

STM presented the Through the Wall Radar (DAR) system for the first time at IDEF 2017, a system which is developed by only a few countries in the world.  It utilizes radio frequency waves for detecting locations of people inside closed areas without any visual access or surveillance possibilities. 

KARGU – Autonomous Rotary Wing Attack Drone Available for Mass Production

The KARGU which is developed and manufactured indigenously by STM is categorized as an autonomous rotary wing attach UAV or micro UAV.  It is capable of carrying three different warhead configurations and was one of the products introduced at the Eurosatory event.

According to the information we acquired, with its warhead selected through automatic target acquisition, the KARGU is capable of destroying the target designated by the operator by diving with a speed of 140 km and with the help of the warhead. Known also as the loitering precision strike munition, the man - portable KARGU can be utilized by mobile units due to its 7 kg weight and though it features fully autonomous task capability, it could be utilized by an operator due to its decision - making capability. With its fully autonomous flight capability, the KARGU is able to conduct flights without requiring GPS and with RF signals and data link, it is capable of changing targets, calling off tasks and recall functions as well.

The KARGU is capable of executing operations in night and day conditions with the help of its electro optical day camera and Infrared night camera.  Depending upon weather conditions the KARGU is able to fire at instant opportunity targets within a distance of 5 to 10 km from an altitude of 450 m, within 10 - 15 minutes, with less costs compared with guided munitions. This drone can self-destruct diagonally and quite close to the target and thus cause destruction in a wide area with its 1.6 kg anti-personnel warhead and with the smart fuse. It is capable of carrying thermobaric munition weighing 1.1 kg in order to cause destruction in closed spaces such as caves and buildings. In addition, according to the information we acquired, armor piercing ammunition activities for the KARGU are being conducted.

Due to the image processing algorithm, targets of various types (i.e. vehicle, human being, animal) are identified on the operator’s monitor and in this way the operator distinguishes the threats and other civilian components, focusing on the actual target and fires it.

Mass production orders of the KARGU were placed for the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and the KARGU is a candidate for becoming one of the most crucial munitions of the TAF in the operational field.

ALPAGU - BLOCK-II Fixed-Wing Autonomous Tactical Attack Drone

The ALPAGU BLOCK-II is a man - portable, fixed - wing tactical attack UAV system carried and fired at asymmetric or conventional warfare. The system is composed of fixed- wing attack UAV, Launcher and ground control station components. Besides the utilization with a single launcher, the ALPAGU BLOCK-II provides the user with coordinated operational capacity at the tactical operational site with its basic level swarm intelligence capacity through its multiple launcher version which was revealed at the Eurasia Air Show 2018 for the first time.

In light of the information we gathered from the STM representatives, the drones simultaneously launched through multiple launchers (six drones simultaneously) as a result of the ALPAGU BLOCK-II swarm drone capability are capable of moving with swarm intelligence in different tasks. According to operational conditions, a drone is able to assume command control of the operation in a fully autonomous flight and command other drones as well.

The multiple launcher system rather, is planned to be mounted over the vessel platforms, base zones, critical facilities or armored vehicles.  The presentation, where the swarm capability of the ALPAGU Block-II system -the engineering prototype of which was completed- is visually defined, is aimed to be accomplished at the IDEF 2019 event.

Compared with the BLOCK-I configuration, the ALPAGU BLOCK-II has a wider wing span and is equipped with more improved target plotting capacity, avionic and sensor kits. The system is capable of carrying a warhead up to 3.1 kg as a result of the increase of its size. It is said that in concern with armor piercing ammunition, activities are still being conducted, similar with the KARGU rotary wing attack Drone.