Turkey’s Akinci combat drone has completed critical design review held on September 8 and 9.
“Critical design review phase within the scope of AKINCI UAV Program has been successfully completed. AKINCI will now undergo qualification tests,” Ismail Demir, Chairman of Turkish Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB), said in a Twitter statement Wednesday.
Recently, manufacturer Baykar announced it conducted load test of the Akinci’s third prototype.
Turkish drone-maker Baykar announced Sunday it conducted load test of third prototype of Akinci combat unmanned aerial vehicle.
“In the intervening night of August 29-30, we successfully performed the load testing of Bayraktar AKINCI’s third prototype,” the company tweeted August 30.
Load testing aids in evaluating a system’s behavior under both normal and anticipated peak load conditions. It helps to identify the maximum operating capacity of the system, drone in this case, as well as any bottlenecks and determine which element is causing degradation.
First prototype of the drone made its maiden flight in December 2019- it flew for 16 minutes after take-off. Prior to this, the Akinci had undergone final ground tests which consisted of short sprints down the runway.
Baykar started to work to develop the AKINCI Combat UAV in May 2017.
The Akinci belongs to a new class of “heavy” drones. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has a wingspan of 20m, and is powered by two Ukrainian AI-450 turboprop engines.
The drone is capable of conducting operations that are being done with fighter jets. It carries electronic support systems, dual satellite communication systems, air-to-air radar, collision avoidance radar and synthetic aperture radar. The Akinci can also be used in air-to-ground and air-to air attack missions.
The UAV will be equipped with multifunction AESA Radar system for air-to-air, syntetic, meteorology estimation.
The drone can be armed with Mini Smart Munition MAM-L, Mini Smart Munition MAM – C, Cirit Missile, L-UMTAS Missile, Mini Smart Munition Bozok, MK-81, MK-82, MK-83 Guided Bombs (JDAM), Wing Assisted Guided Bomb MK-82, Gokdogan and Bozdogan air-to-air missiles, and Stand Off Missile SOM-A.
Baykar claims that the Akinci is equipped with dual artificial intelligence (AI) avionics which supports for signal processing, sensor fusion and situational awareness in real time.
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