STM Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik ve Ticaret A.Ş., a Turkish defence industry company engaged in the development of modern systems, has further cemented its status as a pioneer in the field of tactical mini UAVs in Türkiye. In the latest achievement of STM in its ongoing efforts to respond to the evolving needs on the battlefield with rapidly developed solutions, the company has integrated an armour-piercing warhead into KARGU, Türkiye’s first national attack UAV, which has been developed by using national capabilities to contribute effectively to the fight against terrorism. Following an intensive development phase, the armour-piercing KARGU was tested in the field and hit the specified target with pinpoint accuracy. After being loaded with the armour-piercing ammunition, KARGU was launched and deployed against the designated target – an armour-plated vehicle – which it destroyed with pinpoint accuracy in the first firing.
Özgür Güleryüz, General Manager of STM, commenting on the continuous development of KARGU to meet new battlefield needs, said: “We have been working on different payload versions of KARGU for some time. Having been operating effectively in the field with its anti-personnel ammunition warhead for some time now, as of today it has also proven its ability to be deployed against mobile and stationary land-based targets, durable structures and armoured land vehicles with its armour-piercing warhead. Military personnel in the field will be able to quickly remove the anti-personnel ammunition warhead and replace it with an armour-piercing warhead when required in the battlefield. We have put forward a concept that will strengthen the hand of the Turkish Armed Forces in the field, which continues to make active use of KARGU. It will also be extremely attractive to the export market. In other news, we have entered the final phase of our efforts to integrate KARGU with an RF (Radio-Frequency) Seeker carrying the signature of STM engineers. The RF seeker will allow KARGU to detect and destroy enemy radar and electronic warfare systems. Once completed, we will gain another cost-effective national system for deployment against enemy elements.”
Combat Proven Rotary Wing Loitering Munition System KARGU can produce a significant surprise effect and offers operational superiority with its artificial intelligence and image processing capabilities, silence, and ability to deploy its explosive payload directly to the target. KARGU can be easily carried by a single soldier and deployed to the mission area in just 1 minute, where it is hard to spot thanks to its low radar cross-sectional area. The KARGU system, which comprises an Attack Drone Platform and the Mobile Ground Control Station, can perform effective operations day and night with its advanced electro-optical and infrared cameras. The UAV can stay airborne for more than 30 minutes and has a range of 10 kilometres. It has mission-abort, return-to-home and self-destruct functions, and operates with high-performance navigation and control algorithms. KARGU is integrated with technologies allowing it to operate in swarm configurations and independently of GPS with the KERKES Project.
The attack UAV KARGU, known also as the “Kamikaze UAV”, has been developed by STM by using domestic and national capabilities and resources. It first entered the inventory of the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) in 2018, and has been used effectively in counter-terrorism, special missions and cross-border operations by various Turkish security elements. After attracting attention in the international arena, KARGU scored its first export success in 2021, and by 2024, it had been exported to more than 10 countries on three different continents. More than 5,000 KARGU systems have been produced to date. KARGU, which means “mountainside observation tower” and “sparrowhawk” in Old Turkish, is able to navigate completely automatically with the help of its mission computer, and to effectively and accurately destroy stationary or moving targets spotted by the operator in the mission area. KARGU carries out missions for the detection and neutralisation of threats in high-risk/high-threat areas, alleviating the need to deploy human elements. Operating completely under the control of the operator in line with the “Man-in-the-Loop” principle, KARGU provides reconnaissance, surveillance and intelligence to the user, who can then opt to make use of its precision-strike capabilities after detecting and confirming the target location in high-risk, complex conflict zones.
