ANKA to getting CATS Eye

3 min read

Turkish Air Force Command (TURAF) wants to upgrade Turkish Aerospace’s (TUSAŞ) ANKA armed UAV with ASELSAN products. The force demanded to upgrade UAVs surveillance and targeting pod with indigenous ASELSAN common aperture targeting system (CATS) electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) reconnaissance, surveillance and targeting system.

According to Anadolu News Agency, ANKA-S type armed UAVs will be equipped with the CATS Electro-Optical Sensor System developed by ASELSAN. In this direction, the studies initiated for the integration of CATS to into ANKA platform were accelerated.

As part of the integration process, an 11-hour test flight was carried out in Batman. An ANKA UAV with CATS on board took off. Within the scope of the test, two Roketsan smart micro munitions were released and hit the target using the CATS system.

In addition, the CATS system has been exported to five countries integrated into Bayraktar TB2 armed UAV platforms.

TUSAŞ has delivered 14 ANKA Armed UAV to the Turkish Air Force so far. The force has already ordered six ANKA Armed UAV and plans to order ten more.

ANKA to getting CATS Eye

ANKA had a US-made FLIR Systems Star SAFIRE 380 HLD EO/IR sensor turret on board.

CATS Specs

CATS is a high performance electro-optical reconnaissance, surveillance and targeting system designed for fixed-wing and rotary-wing airborne platforms, including Unmanned Air Systems (UASs), helicopters and aircrafts.

Applications

Targeting

Reconnaissance and Surveillance

Long Range Surveillance

Main Features

Common Aperture with Diameter of 220mm

Very Large Aperture for Narrow FOVs and

Very Narrow FOVs of IR, HDTV and LL-NIR

Cameras

Larger Aperture Means More Light and

Therefore Better Image Quality and Better

Range