More UAS for Turkey

Turkey needs to acquire more and smaller unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to prevent large-scale attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) against Turkish military units near the borders with Iraq and Iran, several defense analysts said yesterday. “Although there is no formal decision taken at this point, this probably will be the decision to be taken by the Turkish government,” said one procurement official speaking on condition of anonymity. In the worst attack in the past 18 years, at least two dozen Turkish soldiers were killed and many others were injured when the PKK attacked the military in southeastern Turkey on Oct. 19. The attack took place near the Çukurca district in an area bordering Iraq and Iran. After the deadly PKK attack, dozens of Turkish F-16 fighter aircraft bombed supposed PKK targets inside Turkey and in northern Iraq in retaliation, media said. “I am talking about small- or medium-sized unmanned aerial vehicles that should be assigned to specific military units or border posts. These platforms are dirt cheap, but save a lot of lives,” one defense analyst said. “The United States lost up to 7,000 small UAVs in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past 10 years, but saved […]
More UAS for Turkey