Lentatek exhibited the UAVs it developed in different classes in the exhibition area created as part of the EFES-2022 Combined Joint Actual Fire Field Exercise. In this context, Karayel UAV, which was equipped with satellite control (SATCOM) capability, was introduced for the first time.
The company carries out new generation useful load integration activities in order to provide additional capabilities to Karayel, which it has developed with domestic and national resources. The Karayel product family, which has gained the SATCOM feature, will maintain its instant target detection, tracking and destruction capabilities beyond the line of sight, in day and night conditions, by autonomous flight and navigation, independent of range limitations.
Lentatek General Manager Öner Tekin told Anadolu Agency (AA) that they exhibited the latest version of Karayel with a long wing, maximum load carrying capacity and integrated SATCOM, within the scope of EFES-2022.
Explaining that Karayel made its first flight in 2009, and its next version flew in 2013, Tekin said:
"Our Armed Forces used Karayel between 2015 and 2017 in the form of service procurement. Since then, we have continuously made new developments on Karayel. Karayel has capabilities above its tactical class. It has become an optimum aircraft in terms of the load it carries, according to its weight. For many different purposes. It can be used in a wide range of fields such as observation, mapping, security, forest fire detection and monitoring."
Noting that Karayel's flight time is approximately 40 thousand hours, Tekin said, "Because it has superior features and triple redundant avionics, Karayel has not experienced any technical failures so far. This is actually a world record. "We have made it an aircraft produced in accordance with NATO standards, which is the most fundamental international criterion in order to be able to be flown. This made our product very competitive in the world and carried it to a different place." he spoke
Emphasizing that the most basic need of a UAV is communication, Tekin said:
"The further you can move your communication forward, the more you expand the area where you can operate or use your vehicle effectively. With SATCOM, we have taken this to the next level. Thus, the limit created by the communication system on the aircraft's range has been removed.
This is a very critical technology for UAV. Our friends have successfully integrated it. As it stands, it is one of the few systems in the world. Karayel can work and be used with SATCOM."
120 kilograms of ammunition
Armed, long range Karayel can operate with a total of 120 kilograms of ammunition with 4 stations, each of which has the capacity to carry 30 kilograms of ammunition. The stations on the wing can be developed in a modular structure and can carry different loads besides ammunition.
Karayel, with its unique triple redundant distributed avionics architectural feature that provides protection against all kinds of uncontrolled crashes, carried systematic error safety, which has been used only in manned aviation worldwide until now, to a UAV for the first time.
