Turkey’s Aksungur medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE)unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has successfully hit a target with new domestically produced ammunition, Chairperson of the Defense Industries Presidency (SSB) Ismail Demir announced Sunday. Aksungur hit the target at a range of 30 kilometers with the KGK-SIHA-82, which weighs 340 kilograms (750 pounds), and was fired by the unmanned aerial vehicle the first time.
The KGK-SIHA-82 useful load has been developed by TÃœBITAK Defense Industries Research and Development Institute (SAGE). The firing test was carried out off the Black Sea province of Sinop and at an altitude of 20,000 feet. The shooting range will be increased to 45 kilometers with the same ammunition soon. KGK is a wing-assisted guidance kit that converts existing unguided 1000 lb MK83 and 500 lb MK82 general purpose bombs into long-range, air to ground smart weapons.
Aksungur has also test-fired MK-82 general-purpose bombs with a Teber guidance kit weighing around 250 kilograms. The Teber guidance kit, developed by Roketsan, converts conventional bombs into precision smart ammunition. Aksungur last year September managed to stay in the air for 28 hours carrying 12 MAM-L useful smart micro munitions (MAM), also developed by Roketsan.
The TAI Aksungur is an unmanned aerial vehicle built by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) for the Turkish Armed Forces. Using existing technology from the TAI Anka series of drones, it is the manufacturer’s largest drone with payload capacity for mission-specific equipment. It is intended to be used for long-term surveillance, signals intelligence, maritime patrol missions, or as an unmanned combat aerial vehicle.
