TAI Anka


The TAI Anka is a family of medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries for the Turkish Air Force and export. The drone is named after Phoenix, a mythological creature called Zümrüd-ü Anka in Turkish. Envisioned in the early 2000s for aerial surveillance and reconnaissance missions, Anka has evolved into a modular platform with synthetic-aperture radar, precision-guided munitions and satellite communication. The aircraft is also equipped for electronic warfare and signals intelligence missions. The aircraft used common avionics architecture and ground segment with TAI Anka-3 and TAI Aksungur. The aircraft is capable of conducting autonomous operations including automatic take-off and landing.
The basic version, Anka-A is a unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance aerial vehicle used only for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance missions. Introduced in 2010, Anka granted its first contract in 2013 from Turkish Air Force. The Force requested further studies in advanced uninterrupted intelligence, reconnaissance and communication technologies. The aircraft was set to a long development phase to introduce national mission computer, national flight control system, synthetic aperture radar, indigenous engine and friend or foe identification system. Anka-B made its first flight in 2014 and completed factory tests in 2015. In 2017, Turkish Aerospace Industries introduced Anka-S and the aircraft entered service with the Turkish Air Force.
Turkish Aerospace Industries offers the aircraft in two versions, Anka-B and Anka-S. Anka-I was developed specifically for Turkey's National Intelligence Organization for signal intelligence. Anka has accumulated more than 90,000 flight hours as of March 2021.

Design

The Anka platform incorporates a redundant architecture designed to support autonomous operations and system reliability. The aircraft utilizes an Automatic Take-Off and Landing System that enables operation without operator intervention. This system relies on dual positioning sources, integrating data from a Radar Tracking System and Differential GPS for navigational precision. In the event of a communication severance with ground control, the vehicle is programmed to autonomously return to the base and execute a landing. It also retains the capability to perform emergency landings on alternative fields if the primary take-off location cannot be reached. Data transmission is managed through two encrypted, redundant data link systems for line-of-sight operations. For missions requiring range beyond line-of-sight, the aircraft is equipped with a Satellite Communication system.
​The electrical power generation system consists of an engine-driven alternator supported by a battery backup. This redundancy ensures that critical systems remain powered via batteries in the event of an alternator failure. Physically, the airframe features retractable landing gear to prevent obstruction of the payload's line of sight during reconnaissance missions. To facilitate operations in adverse weather, the wings and tail surfaces are equipped with anti-icing systems. A single Anka system consists of three air vehicles, a ground control station, a ground data terminal, an automatic take-off and landing system, a transportable image exploitation system, a remote video terminal, and various ground support equipment.
​Designed for all-weather day and night operations, the Anka performs real-time image intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, including the tracking and identification of stationary or moving targets. The system features an open architecture to support modular mission requirements, though the standard sensor payload typically consists of:

​Electro-optic sensors: A color day camera and a Forward-Looking Infrared turret integrated with a laser rangefinder, laser designator, and spotter camera.

​Radar systems: A Synthetic-Aperture Radar capable of Ground Moving Target Indication and Inverse Synthetic-Aperture Radar operations.
The platform is also equipped with a digital flight control system, electro-mechanical actuators, and flight control sensor systems such as GPS, pitot-static, air data computer, navigation sensor, transducers, temperature, pressure, displacement sensors, etc. The operations of the Anka-S are supported by the highly sophisticated ground control system and data link system with complete redundancy, developed by the Turkish defence company .

Development

The contract regarding the development of an indigenous Medium Altitude Long Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle system for the reconnaissance requirements of the Turkish Armed Forces became effective on 24 December 2004. Within the framework of the program, a total of three prototypes and ground systems will be designed, developed, manufactured, and tested by mid-2011 as part of the prototype development phase. Subsequently, in 2012, the serial production phase of Anka-A would be launched and additional 10 systems built for the Turkish Air Force.
  • On 30 December 2010, the first TAI Anka unmanned aerial vehicle completed its debut flight, with 14 minutes of cruising, at 15:45 local time. Defence Minister Vecdi Gönül confirmed the flight.
  • On 5 May 2011, TAI released the test flight video of Anka. Anka-A flew a test and calibration mission of 2h 30m.
  • Turkish Aerospace Industries announced on 25 October 2011 that the Anka had successfully completed its subsequent flight and landing tests and that it will now be in the Turkish Air Force inventory in 2012 that is much earlier than expected. Footage released by TAI also shows the Anka landing successfully putting all speculation abouts its crash landings to rest.
  • On 22 November 2011, the Anka held the follow-up test flight for 6 hours at 20,000 ft. The vehicle demonstrated its automatic take-off and landing system for the first time.
  • On 5 January 2012, Defence Industry Executive Committee authorized Undersecretariat for Defence Industries to commence talks with Turkish Aerospace Industries for the serial production of 10 Anka vehicles.
  • On 27 September 2012, an Anka prototype crashed during a flight test due to a technical problem.
  • On 20 January 2013, Anka completed acceptance tests by the Turkish Air Force. The final acceptance tests were conducted near Ankara, and involved an 18‑hour‑long, 200 km ring flight. The tests also included a night landing in adverse weather conditions. The Anka has flown more than 140 hours and reached and altitude of 26,000 feet.
  • On 13 May 2013, the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, Kamra handed over the first batch of Anka UAV parts to Turkish Aerospace Industries during IDEF 2013 at Istanbul, Turkey.
  • On 6 December 2013, another Anka UAV crashed in southeastern Turkey during a day flight.
  • On 30 January 2015, Undersecretariat of Defense Industry announced that the new generation high performance Anka Blok-B unmanned aerial vehicle completed the tests of different autopilot and landing modes in the first flight with automatic take-off and landing
  • Anka was extensively used during Operation Euphrates Shield While the aircraft participated in many counter-terrorism operations within the Turkish Armed Forces, it also played an active role during operations in Syria and Iraq such as Operation Olive Branch, Operation Claw, Operation Peace Spring, Operation Spring Shield, Operation Kiran and Operations Claw-Eagle and Tiger.In this way, useful experiences was made in the development of the aircraft.
  • The first deliveries of the ANKA-S version began in early 2017.
  • Unmanned target drone Şimşek, manufactured by TAI, integrated into ANKA UAV with a catapult, was launched from the Anka-B aircraft. Consequently, for the first time, a target unmanned aerial vehicle was launched from a MALE class UAV.
  • Istanbul based CTech company, has developed portable satellite communication systems with domestic facilities. The system was first integrated into TUSAŞ production Anka-S UAVs.
  • In May 2021, Turkish Aerospace Industries updated product specifications. With the new update, Anka's payload capacity and endurance were revised to 350+ kilograms and 30 hours, respectfully.

    Variants

Anka +A

On 19 July 2012, the Turkish Defense Industry Executive Committee announced that Turkish Aerospace Industries had commenced research and development for the design and development of a "hunter killer" High-Altitude Long-Endurance version of the Anka UAV, named the Anka +A. It was planned that Anka +A will carry Cirit missiles of Turkey's ROKETSAN. The weight of Anka +A UCAV would be more than 4 tons compared to Anka Block A's 1.5 tons. It was highly expected that the UCAV would be presented to public in the events of IDEF'13 on 7–10 May 2013.

Anka-B

On 30 January 2015, the Anka-B completed its maiden flight successfully. Anka Block B is an improved version of the Anka Block A. The UAV carries an Aselsan synthetic aperture radar/ground moving-target indicator payload in addition to the platform's electro-optical/infrared sensor. During the maiden flight, Anka-B successfully performed "basic shakedown" and auto-landing. The Anka Block B also has a greater payload capacity than that of the Anka-A which includes SAR/ISAR/GMTI radar that obtains and remits high resolution intelligence data back to base. The Anka Block B paved the way for weaponisation of the platform in the foreseeable future. Anka Block B passed 30.000 feet, 26 hours and 200 km radius during the test flights. Turkish Air Force ordered 10 Anka Block B in 2013 at a cost of $300 million.

Anka-S

Anka-S is a serial production configuration of Anka. It is equipped with a SATCOM antenna and a national flight control computer. Like Block A and Block B, Anka-S is powered by Thielert Centurion 2.0S. On the other hand, Turkish Engine Industries indigenously developed TEI-PD170 and TEI-PD180ST engines that are capable of running with diesel and JP-8 jet fuel.
On 25 October 2013, Turkish Undersecretariat for Defence Industry ordered 10 Anka-S UAVs and 12 ground control stations for $290 million. The UAVs would be delivered in three batches.
In 2016, media reported that the TAI was manufacturing 4 Anka-S UAVs for the armed forces. The first two of these aircraft were to be equipped with StarFIRE 380-HDL FLIR payload. However, these would be replaced with Aselsan CATS later on.
On 17 August 2018, Directorate for Defence Industries announced that the Anka-S completed its first live fire tests. The platform was tested with MAM-L ammunition developed by Roketsan. In September, Ismail Demir, director of the Turkey's defence industry authority, shared a picture of the first Anka-S equipped with Aselsan CATS optical system. TAI delivered 2 more Anka-S to Turkish Air Force in September 2018, increasing the Anka-S inventory of Turkish Air Force to 8 aircraft. TAI is planning to deliver a total of 10 Anka-S to Turkish Air Force before 2019.
In August 2018, the Anka-S carried out Turkey's first "satellite-controlled airstrike" according to the Turkish Presidency of Defense Industries. In December, Anka completed its first flight with an engine manufactured domestically. In 2019, Anka broke its endurance records, flying longer than 24 hours.
Although Anka have an operational range of about 100 miles, satellite-enabled Anka-S is capable of flying beyond "line of sight".