Description
TAI Anka is a type of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI). It was originally designed for the Turkish Armed Forces and is used by them until this day. An interesting fact is that the name of the drone comes from the Turkish term for phoenix. As of the end of 2020, there are confirmed ongoing negotiations between Pakistan Navy and Turkish Aerospace Industries in terms of sales of the TAI Anka.
Performance
Currently, there are 58 active TAI Ankas in Turkey and as of March 2020, a contract for 3 models as well as a command center was signed with Tunisia.
The TAI Anka is being powered by a Tusaş Engine Industries PD170, 4-cylinder turbo-charged diesel engine, cooled with liquid. It is equipped in 3-bladed, constant-speed propeller, that can lift up to 350 kg.
The maximum speed of the drone is 217km/h and cruise speed hovers around 204 km/h. TAI Anka can fly up to 1448 kg unloaded and the combat range is 200 km within the datalink range. At the maximum possible load, the drone can endure around 30 hours of uninterrupted fligh
Variants
The TAI Anka was created in several variants. Among them can be indicated:
- Anka +A - it was supposed to carry higher weights than the original model,
- Anka-B - it has a greater payload capacity and this model is equipped with SAR/ISAR/GMTI radar (which can be used to provide with high intelligence data in the base),
- Anka-S - it's a serial production configuration of the model,
- Anka-I - it's equipped with an electronic walfare as well as ELINT and COMINT - intelligence systems,
- Anka-2 - it is characterized by a much higher one payload capacity, among others thanks to the twin-engine construction of the device.
