ANKA Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ), has set a new flight record by staying in the air for 30 hours and 30 minutes.
“ANKA has accomplished new achievements! She broke her record for the longest flight by flying 30 hours and 30 minutes of duty in a sortie,” TUSAŞ statement said.
The flight record-breaking ANKA UAV is estimated to be in the “Next Generation ANKA” configuration.
In a special insight by SavunmaSanayiST.com at TUSAŞ facilities in June 2021, ANKA (tail number 049), which was delivered to the Air Force, was displayed.
According to the information obtained, this ANKA, which was delivered to the Turkish Air Force, is in the ‘Next Generation’ configuration.
The main difference of the Next Generation ANKA from the existing ANKA-S is that its wing and wing profile have been changed.
While the ANKA-S UAV has a useful payload capacity of 250 kilograms and a 24-hour flight duration, the Next Generation ANKA has a useful payload capacity of 350 kilograms and a flight duration of 30 hours.
ANKA has been selected and operated by the Turkish Air Force, Turkish Navy, Gendarmerie General Command, Tunisian Army and Kazakhstan Army.
AKSUNGUR, AKINCI and Bayraktar TB2
AKSUNGUR, a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) class UAV System that has also been developed by TUSAŞ, has a flight duration of 60 hours in the air.
Bayraktar AKINCI, with its unique fuselage and wing design Bayraktar Akinci platform is a strategic class platform which can carry various payloads. As reported by Baykar, AKINCI has a flight duration of 25 hours.
Perhaps the best known Turkish UAV, Bayraktar TB2, can perform uninterrupted for 27 hours in the air.
READ MORE: In a First, Turkiye Prepares to Construct Three Multi-Role Frigates Simultaneously
SOURCE: TurkishDefenceNews.com, TUSAS