CEO Ahmet Akyol announced that the recent Bayraktar TB2 armed UAV export to Croatia includes the ASELFLIR-500 EO/IR system.
The recent Bayraktar TB2 export to the EU and NATO member countries brought along an export milestone for ASELSAN's newest EO/IR system.
Akyol added that, including Croatia, export agreements with 12 countries have been signed for the ASELFLIR-500, which has succeeded CATS.
ASELFLIR-500 is a successor to the CATS electro-optical system with significant improvements in weight and resolution for all cameras. The new electro-optical system offers a 4096x2880 HD Day Camera, 1280x720 HD IR and SWIR cameras, increased laser designation range of 35 km.
So far, ASELFLIR-500 has been integrated on Bayraktar TB2, ANKA-III (Interim solution until TOYGUN-100 EOTS arrives), Bayraktar TB3, and AKINCI UCAVs with usage in various firing tests.
Another important contract signed regarding Bayraktar TB2s with Croatia is integrating Croatian firm ORQA's FPV kamikaze UAVs on Bayraktar TB2 as a new munition option.
The concept of a UAV as a mothership to smaller UAVs has been demonstrated in Ukraine, where larger UAVs acted as both carriers and communication relays to the smaller FPVs they carried.
The advantages of FPV UAVs dropped from an armed UAV would be re-targeting and extra eyes in the sky that can observe at a closer distance without endangering the mother platform.
