But TurkeyÂ’s keep crashing.
No Mr. Carlson, not the birds ; TurkeyÂ’s drones.
In an attempt to bolster its leadership role in the Arab world, Turkey has recently done almost everything it could to alienate Israel, to the extent that neither currently has an ambassador in the other’s country. Turkey also decided to cut off all government-based business deals with Israel – ending a formerly substantial trade in military equipment, including, according to Defense News, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); according to the publication, Turkey purchased 10 Heron UAVs from Israel Aircraft Industries in 2010. No more such purchases are likely.
But as relations continued to worsen with Israel – and as Turkey decided that the time was ripe for it to take a regional leadership role – Ankara has decided to produce as many of its own weapons as possible, including UAVs. So Turkey, according to Defense News, made a strategic decision to ground its Israeli UAVs and produce its own version of the pilotless patrol planes. And following the government’s directive, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) promptly designed and produced a home-grown Turkish UAV – the Anka, which the government hoped would fulfill Turkey’s needs for UAVs; perhaps Ankara would even be able to develop an industry around the craft.
Only one problem, though: So far, every prototype Anka that TAI has produced has crashed. |