TAI Şimşek

TAI Şimşek
Role Unmanned target drone
Manufacturer Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI)
First flight August 4, 2012
Primary user Turkish Armed Forces

TAI Şimşek is a turbojet-powered radio-controlled high-speed target drone designed, developed and built by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) between 2009-2012 for the needs of the Turkish Armed Forces.

Şimşek is the Turkish word for "lightning".

Overview

Development started in 2009, and a prototype was presented to the public at the International Defence Industry Fair the same year.[1] The UAV made its maiden flight on August 4, 2012.[2]

Şimşek simulates enemy aircraft and missiles for air-to-air, surface-to-air, anti-aircraft gunnery and missile systems’ tracking and firing training.[3] It looks like tactical air-launched decoys (TALDs).[4]

TAI intends to further develop the drone into a cruise missile with "Human-in-the-Loop" (HITL) guidance capability for use against mobile or fixed soft targets.[4]

Payloads of TAI Şimşek consists of following features:[3]

The drone is launched from a catapult and recovered by parachute. It can take off and can be controlled from navy vessels.[3]

In July 2020 TAI launched Şimşek from TAI Anka integrated arm and made history by launching the target drone from UAV for the first time.[5][6]

Specifications

Data from Turkish Aerospace Industries TAI[3]

General characteristics

  • Crew: 0
  • Wingspan: 1.50 m (4 ft 11 in)

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 740 km/h (460 mph, 400 kn)
  • Endurance: 60 min
  • Service ceiling: 4,500 m (14,800 ft)

References

  1. ^ "TAI Şimşek İnsansız Hava Aracı" (in Turkish). Daily Motion. 8 October 2009. Retrieved 2013-02-12.
  2. ^ "Şimşek İlk Kez Havalandı". TRT Haber (in Turkish). 2012-08-09. Retrieved 2013-02-12.
  3. ^ a b c d "Programs-UAV Systems-Target Drone Systems-Şimşek". TAI. Archived from the original on 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2013-02-12.
  4. ^ a b "An overview of Turkish UAV R&D and production-TAI Simsek high-speed target drone". TR Defence. 2010-11-21. Retrieved 2013-02-12.
  5. ^ "Türkiye 'Şimşek' ile dünyada bir ilke imza attı". www.trthaber.com (in Turkish). 14 July 2020. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
  6. ^ "ŞİMŞEK target drone system integrated into ANKA UAV". English Defence News. 2020-07-13. Retrieved 2021-03-26.


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