A swarm of drones catching the enemy off guard and finishing them off in a few minutes may no longer be just a scene from a military sci-fi movie in future. The Turkish military, which has for past many months been using the rotary-wing kamikaze (suicidal) mini-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Kargu, has now included an updated version of the Autonomous Tactical Multi-Rotor Attack UAV, Kargu-2, in its fast growing arsenal.
Turkey's Defense Industry Presidency (SSB) Chairman Ismail Demir had announced earlier this year the inclusion of 356 domestically developed new generation kamikaze mini-drones in its security forces. As manufacturer Defense Technologies Engineering and Trade Inc, also known as STM, developed a finer version under the contract signed with SSB, state-run Anadolu Agency reported earlier this week preparations being made for a fresh delivery of 500 more state-of-the-art Kargu-2 drones, which could change the way the enemy will be neutralized in the coming times.
Listing the capabilities of Kargu, which means hawk in Turkish, STM says the loitering munitions can be carried by one person for use in asymmetric warfare or anti-terrorism areas, and can operate autonomously or with remote control. It is effective in day and night operations and can make a precise strike without detection up to a distance of 5 km.
"The drones can carry one of three different types of warheads, including a high-explosive fragmentation one for engaging personnel and other unarmored targets in the open, a thermobaric type good for targets in confined spaces such as buildings or caves, and a shaped charge for attacking lightly armored threats… Most importantly, however, last year, STM announced it was working to give the Kargu family of drones additional autonomy and the ability to work together in large swarms.
The swarming technology is in development as part of a larger Turkish government program known as Kerkes, which is also looking to develop systems to improve the ability of drones to operate in GPS-denied environments, something that is increasingly a very real threat," Joseph Trevithick, specializing in defense and security research and analysis.
Turkey's military has been using these drones in Syria and last month, the drone was sighted, and downed, in Libya for the first time. KARGU (Autonomous Tactical Multi-Rotor Attack UAV) kamikaze (suicidal) drone. Was downed in Ain Zara. Turkey is experimenting its rubbish in Libya. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been repeatedly accused of making provocative moves—on land and in sea—which could destabilize the world like never before. However, no matter how much Nato talks about arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation, things seem to be moving in the opposite directions with new and much more lethal arms and gadgets being added by rogue nations.
