Egypt to buy Turkish ANKA UAVs

Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.20 / Trend A.Taghiyeva /

Egypt will buy 10 reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) ANKA from Turkey, the Sabah newspaper reported.

According to the newspaper, the parties have signed a relevant agreement following the negotiations that lasted two and a half months.

Director General of Turkish State Aerospace Industries Company (TUSAŞ) Muharrem Dortkasli said many neighbors of Turkey are also interested in ANKA UAV.

As spokesman of the Turkish Defence Industry Ministry, Murad Bayar said yesterday, Turkey plans to start batch production of ANKA UAV next year.

Turkey has worked to create first reconnaissance UAV since 2004. About 180 engineers have been involved in the project which refers to medium class vehicles with a long flight span.

ANKA has several advantages in comparison with Israeli UAV Heron. Thus, Heron can lift no more than 185 kilograms of payload to the height of 30,000 feet, while this figure exceeds 200 kilograms in ANKA UAV.

In recent years, the Turkish military-industrial company has focused on manufacturing domestic defence products.

At present, Turkey conducts work to manufacture UAV Simsek (“Lightning”).

This is the second model of the UAV, designed by the Turkish aerospace company..

Its length is 2.3 meters, with a wingspan of 1.5 meters. The maximum takeoff weight is 75 kilograms, with a speed of 740 kilometers per hour.

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