Turkey Directed Energy Weapon System | Rocketsan ALKA

Описание: Turkey’s top military commanders are pushing to prioritize directed-energy weapon programs following a decade’s worth of industry development in the field, a senior military officer has told Defense News.

“In recent months there have been briefings to update the top command on DEW efforts. Satisfied with where we stand, the command has recommended to establish an understanding to give priority to DEW programs,” the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Several state-controlled and private Turkish companies have worked on direct-energy technology since 2010, and the positive results have impressed military planners.

“Turkish companies are relatively new in this specialized field, but their work so far has been spectacular,” the officer said. “The first 10 years was relatively challenging. The next decade will see exponential technological sophistication.”

Ozgur Eksi, an Ankara-based defense analyst, said that from an operational point of view, directed-energy weapons are meant to increase fire power, serve as a deterrent, and complement armed and unarmed drone warfare development.
“Drone warfare architecture may be the most critical operational use, especially for asymmetrical warfare inside Turkey or in cross-border operations [in Syria and Iraq],” Eksi said.

Turkey has been fighting Kurdish insurgents since 1984 — a conflict that has seen nearly 50,000 people die, including civilians. The Turkish military maintains an operational presence in northern Iraq and Syria, where Kurdish militants maintain strongholds.

Industry advancements

As each Turkish-made directed-energy system becomes combat-proven, export potential will increase, a procurement official told Defense News. He said potential foreign customers include Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Qatar and some Southeast Asian countries.
“Turkish companies initially followed achievements of Chinese and Israeli DEW specialists,” according to a senior directed-energy weapons engineer working for a local state-controlled company. “But now their programs tend to evolve technologically independent. The next phase will focus more on advanced models and new systems.”

State-controlled missile-maker Roketsan unveiled in 2019 its first homemade directed-energy weapon, the Alka, that can destroy or disable hostile drones. Company officials say the effort was part of a response to the surge in drone attacks targeting Turkish troops.

The Alka is equipped with both a 50-kilowatt laser and electromagnetic systems to either destroy or disable drones. It purportedly uses automatic target recognition with both electro-optical and radar detection to simultaneously track multiple targets. The system is touted as being able to disable a swarm of drones at a range of 4,000 meters; destroy a target with a laser at 500 meters; and destroy a target at 1,000 meters with its electromagnetic weapon. It can also reportedly track targets at speeds as high as 150 kph with a precision of 8 milimeters from 1,000 meters away.

It took Roketsan five years to develop the system. Its engineers are now working to integrate the Alka into a portable system so it can be moved around with a dedicated truck.
“The mobile unit will be ideal to protect troops and operations, while the stationary system will offer protection for headquarters, bases, ships and other strategic points,” a Roketsan engineer said. One Alka unit has already been deployed to protect Roketsan’s production facility near Ankara.

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