TAI Şimşek is a

turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...

-powered

radio-controlled Radio control (often abbreviated to RC) is the use of control signals transmitted by radio to remotely operate a device. Examples of simple radio control systems are garage door openers and keyless entry systems for vehicles, in which a small h ...

high-speed

target drone A target drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle, generally remote controlled, usually used in the training of anti-aircraft crews. One of the earliest drones was the British DH.82 Queen Bee, a variant of the Tiger Moth trainer aircraft operation ...

designed, developed and built by

Turkish Aerospace Industries Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. (, TAI or TUSAŞ) is a state-owned Arms industry, arms company in Turkey. History On 16 August 1925 the Turkish Aircraft and Engine Limited Company ''()'' factory was founded in Kayseri, Turkey. The company ...

(TAI) between 2009 and 2012 for the needs of the

Turkish Armed Forces The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; , TSK) are the armed forces, military forces of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey. The TAF consist of the Turkish Army, Land Forces, the Turkish Navy, Naval Forces and the Turkish Air Force, Air Forces. The Chief of ...

. Şimşek is the Turkish word for "

lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

Overview

Development started in 2009, and a prototype was presented to the public at the International Defence Industry Fair the same year. The UAV made its

maiden flight The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets. In the early days of aviation it could be dange ...

on August 4, 2012. ''Şimşek'' simulates enemy aircraft and missiles for air-to-air,

surface-to-air A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-a ...

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

gunnery and missile systems’ tracking and firing training. It looks like tactical air-launched decoys (TALDs). TAI intends to further develop the drone into a

cruise missile A cruise missile is an unmanned self-propelled guided missile that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large payload over long distances with high precision. Modern cru ...

with "

Human-in-the-Loop Human-in-the-loop (HITL) is used in multiple contexts. It can be defined as a model requiring human interaction. HITL is associated with modeling and simulation (M&S) in the live, virtual, and constructive taxonomy. HITL along with the related hum ...

" (HITL) guidance capability for use against mobile or fixed soft targets. Payloads of TAI Şimşek consists of following features: * Passive

Radar Cross-Section Radar cross-section (RCS), denoted σ, also called radar signature, is a measure of how detectable an object is by radar. A larger RCS indicates that an object is more easily detected. An object reflects a limited amount of radar energy b ...

Augmenter (

Luneburg lens A Luneburg lens (original German ''Lüneburg-Linse'') is a spherically symmetric gradient-index lens. A typical Luneburg lens's refractive index ''n'' decreases radially from the center to the outer surface. They can be made for use with electrom ...

) * Passive IR Signature * Miss Distance Indicator (MDI) * Counter-measures Dispensing System * Tracking Smoke Generator The drone is launched from a catapult and recovered by parachute. It can take off and can be controlled from navy vessels. 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.

Specifications

References

External links

Launch image of TAI Şimşek
Target drones of Turkey Simsek High-wing aircraft Single-engined jet aircraft {{Aero-2000s-stub