Due to the increase in the terror threats in the region of Turkey, Turkish National Police reviewed the UAV systems requirements. 

5 Male Class “Anka” UAV systems and 5 Tactical Class “Baykar Tactical” UAV systems are ordered from Undersecretary for Defence Industries by Turkish National Police Forces.

The First phase of the procurement, 2 “Anka” UAV systems and 2 “Baykar Tactical” UAV systems are expected to be delivered to Turkish National Police inventory. The First “Tactical Baykar” UAV System is to be in service in the first quarter of 2016. The first “Anka” System is aimed to be in the inventory of Turkish National Police in the first quarter of 2017.The delivery of the remaining systems planned to be procured urgently is planned to take place within the 3-4 month period following the first delivery to the Turkish National Police. 

Department Head of Unmanned and Smart Systems of the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries, Mr. Yakup Taşdelen gave information on the recent developments to our magazine and said, “The procurement of the already ordered five systems is planned as 2+3. The first two systems will be procured immediately and the remaining three systems will be procured optionally extending to the years in line with the user requirements”. Extending information on the ongoing process, Taşdelen said “The official process has started. We will speed it up following the Ministerial Approval. We officially notified the companies in order to take the required measures and for the accomplishment of the preparations. We would like to make full use of the process until the award of the contract. Within this scope, while the activities for the contract continue, in order to avoid a pause period we are conducting our preparations as if the contract was signed”.

Taşdelen mentioned that for the first “Anka” systems planned to be immediately procured within the scope of the program,the Block-B configuration that is lighter and that can endure longer in the air and emerged as a result of the Anka Development Program will be taken as a basis. “As you know, our development activities for the Anka-S program with SATCOM capability for fulfilling our Air Forces Command’s requirements are ongoing. The immediate purchases will not feature SATCOM capability. Then again, we have not received a special request from our user. The users request that the reconnaissance and surveillance requirements are to be covered mainly. And therefore these systems will be in Block-B Configuration” added Taşdelen.

Anka-S program was started in 2013 for meeting the Air Forces Command’s requirements and within the scope of the project’s contract, the delivery of ten ANKA UAV and their related ground systems are planned to take place in March 2017. All the systems’ deliveries are planned to be completed in 2019. On the other hand, for the Tactical UAV procurement program initiated for covering the Land Forces Command’s reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition requirements in Tactical class, a contract was signed with Kale-Baykar Group in 2011. In accordance with the contract, following the final acceptances accomplished in last June, all the systems to be procured were registered into Turkish Armed Forces’ inventory. Currently 12 “Baykar Tactical” UAVs and 4 ground control stations are already registered in the inventory of Turkish Armed Forces.