Turkey's first MALE unmanned system is set to fly

Turkish Aerospace Industries, (TAI), has completed works on design, manufacturing and assembly of the drone, CEO Muharrem Dörtkaşlı told the Anatolia news agency. TAI has been dealing with unmanned aerial vehicle technologies since 1992 and has developed several drones in different classes.

“The MALE unmanned aerial vehicle is totally indigenous and designed, produced and assembled by Turkish engineers," Dörtkaşlı said. “We will start test flights in a few months.”

The MALE has a service ceiling of just over 9,000 meters and a maximum flight time of 24 hours before refueling. It has a fuselage length of nine meters and a wing span of 17 meters. TAI plans to deliver the first MALE drone to Turkish Armed Forces in 2011 and hopes to sell it to other countries afterwards.

In 2005, Turkey awarded a contract to buy 10 Heron unmanned aerial vehicles from two Israeli firms. Six of the Herons have been delivered to Turkey, and the rest of the order is expected to arrive by the end of the year. The Heron UAV System is also a long-endurance medium-altitude system with fully automatic take-off and landing features. The Heron can also climb up to an altitude of 30,000 feet with a range of 350 kilometers and a continuous flight time of at least 24 hours.