TAI Aksungur
Country: 
TurkeyManufacturer: Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI/TUSAŞ)
Twin-engine, twin-boom MALE drone — the Turkish platform with the largest payload, designed for maritime patrol, ASW and long-range strike missions.
Twin-engine, twin-boom MALE drone — the Turkish platform with the largest payload, designed for maritime patrol, ASW and long-range strike missions.
Community
Data trust
- Reliability
- Unverified
- Sources
- Sources pending review
Identity
- Designation
- TAI Aksungur
- Manufacturer
- Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI/TUSAŞ)
- Country
- Turkey
- Year
- 2021
- Category
- UCAV (Combat UAV)
- Class
- MALE (Medium-altitude / long-endurance)
- Status
- In service
Performance
- Range
- 6500 km
- Endurance
- 49 h (record nazionale)
- Top speed
- 250 km/h
- Service ceiling
- 12,200 m
- Propulsion
- 2 × turbodiesel PD170 (twin-boom)
Physical characteristics
- MTOW
- 3300 kg
- Payload
- 750 kg
- Hardpoints
- 6
- Weapons
- MAM-L/T, Bozok, Teber-82, KGK-SİHA-82, siluri leggeri ASW
Onboard systems
- Sensors
- EO/IR, SAR multimodale, MAD, sonoboe, ESM
- Datalink / control
- SATCOM + LOS, MUM-T
- Launch
- Pista
- Recovery
- Pista
Combat use
- ▸Maritime patrol in the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea
- ▸ASW tests and use in NATO exercises (2023-)
Tags
Main operators
History
First-flown in March 2019, Aksungur set Turkey's endurance record in 2021 with 49 hours of continuous flight at operational altitude.
Developed as the bigger brother of ANKA, it integrates the indigenous PD170 engine in a twin configuration to cut dependence on foreign suppliers.
Aksungur is TAI's MALE platform dedicated to long-range missions: the twin-boom design and twin PD170 turbodiesel engines deliver redundancy and the capacity to carry SAR, MAD sensors and lightweight torpedoes for anti-submarine warfare (ASW).
The Turkish Navy selected the Aksungur ASW as its maritime patrol platform to fill the gap left by retired P-3 Orions, integrating sonobuoys and MK46 torpedoes in drone configuration.