Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 24 /Trend R. Hafizoglu /
Turkey is preparing to launch production of the ANKA unmanned aerial vehicle, the Anadolu agency said on Thursday. According to the agency, the UAV went through all the test flights, and is now preparing to be manufactured.
Turkey worked to create its first reconnaissance UAV since 2004, with the drone's test being carried out since December 2012.
Earlier a spokesman of the Turkish Defence Industry Ministry, Murad Bayar said that Turkey plans to start batch production of the ANKA UAV next year.
About 180 engineers have been involved in the project which relates to medium class vehicles with a long flight span.
ANKA has several advantages in comparison to the Israeli UAV Heron. The Heron can lift no more than a 185 kilogramme payload to the height of 30,000 feet, while this figure exceeds 200 kilogrammes in the ANKA UAV.
In recent years, the Turkish military, industrial company has focused on manufacturing domestic defence products.
At present, Turkey conducts work manufacturing the UAV Simsek (Lightning). This is the second model of the UAV designed by the Turkish aerospace company.
Its length is 2.3 metres with a wingspan of 1.5 metres. The maximum take-off weight is 75 kilogrammes, with a speed of 740 kilometres per hour.