President Profesor İsmail Demir said, “We are determined to show our experience and success in unmanned systems in the air vehicles as well in the naval and land vehicles. Our prototype racing activities, which we started within the framework of our Medium Class 1st Level Unmanned Ground Vehicle Project, continue.”
There are four companies taking part in the project; Aselsan, Best Grup, Elektroland and Havelsan. The UGVs were inspected, the first ant taken to mobility tests. Secondly, firing tests were carried out with the remotely commanded 7.62 mm weapon system. Demir said, “After the autonomy and performance tests, we will complete our prototype race next month.”
HAVELSAN’s UGV ‘BARKAN’ was displayed for the first time in February 2021. BARKAN is equipped with a Remote Controlled Weapon System, electro-optical sensors and link systems. BARKAN UGV may operate jointly with the unmanned aerial vehicle, and it is already at field tests. HAVELSAN, which has significant experience in the software field, calls it a digital soldier of the army. It offers the vehicle and the autonomy software to be used in such vehicles and the joint operation capability between all systems.
The Best Group manufactures imports and exports Remote Controlled Armored Construction Equipment, Mini Loader with Remote Controlled Weapon Station, Heavy Duty Crane, Armored Personnel Carrier Vehicles, Remote Control Systems, Armed Military Robot, Unmanned Land and Air Vehicle. The company carried this experience to UGVs. The company provides Fedai (bodyguard) UGV. The company calls it Unmanned Armed Operation Robot. The company presented its Fedai product during IDEF 2019.
Elektroland company participated in the tests with the UGV called Hançer (Dagger). Elektroland was established in 1996 as an electronic PCB repair and reverse engineering centre. Later, it started to produce systems and platforms in the sector with the design and manufacture of remote bomb disposal robot. While exporting these systems, it produced various mini vehicles suitable for different uses. UGVs entered a new area with the 6X6 Boğaç, on which various stations could be added. It can be remotely controlled. The company took part in trials with the Hançer, which has a weapon station on it.
Turkish Defence giant ASELSAN offers its Kaplan (Tiger) Solution. Kaplan UGVs can be controlled through an advanced network-enabled control station, supporting adjustable control levels ranging from simple teleoperation to automatized procedures. The human-machine interface is designed to assist the operator in difficult operational scenarios, decreasing the task load while increasing situational awareness.
