Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has reportedly committed to sell three Anka medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) drones to Kazakhstan.
A military cooperation agreement was signed between the two countries back in May. It also foresees sharing tactical and experience of reconnaissance and attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
The Anka agreement was signed in October, Turkish daily HaberTürk reported.
The report also claimed that negotiations are currently ongoing with two other potential purchasers of the Anka combat drone.
The TAI Anka is a family of unmanned aerial vehicles developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries primarily for the Turkish Air Force. Envisioned in the early 2000s for aerial surveillance and reconnaissance missions, Anka has evolved into a modular platform with synthetic aperture radar, precise and satellite communication.
The basic version, Anka-A, was classified as a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle for 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.
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