Azerbaijan Buys Turkish Munitions for Akinci Drone
Turkish defense supplier Aselsan will provide Aselflir-500 electro-optical surveillance and targeting systems as well as Tolun guided missiles to Azerbaijan.
Both the systems are meant for the Akinci long-range armed drone, recently purchased by Baku.
The deals were signed at the Azerbaijan Defense Exhibition in Baku last week, including joint production and technology transfer in critical areas.
“As ASELSAN, we have a long presence in Azerbaijan with our first subsidiary Aselsan Baku, established 30 years ago, reinforcing our relations with brotherly Azerbaijan,” Aselsan President and CEO Ahmet Akyol said.
“As a reflection of these strong ties, we are now extending our partnership with Azerbaijani defense industry to a new level, which includes joint production and technology transfer. We will continue our cooperation with Azerbaijani Defense Industry in the years to come within the framework of the ‘One Nation Two States’ approach.”
Aselflir-500
The Aselflir-500 electro-optical reconnaissance, surveillance, and targeting system is designed for fixed-wing and rotary-wing air platforms, including drones.
It features a 3-5 micrometer high-resolution infrared camera, a high-resolution day vision camera, a high-resolution short-wave infrared camera, a laser target designator, a laser range finder, a laser point tracker, and laser pointing.
The Aselflir was domestically developed after Canada imposed an embargo on drone cameras to Turkey.
Tolun Guided Munition
The air-to-surface guided munition has a range of 55 nautical miles (101 kilometers/ 63 miles) and can reach an altitude of 40,000 feet (12,192 meters).
It is guided by GPS and an inertial navigation system and has a circular error probability of 10 meters (33 feet).
The missile can penetrate one meter of reinforced concrete from a range of 30 nautical miles (55 kilometers/34 miles).
Additionally, agreements were signed on communication and information security systems with the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense, on electronic warfare with the National Aerospace Agency of the Ministry of Defense Industry, and on joint production of Aselsan Smart Munitions in Azerbaijan with the Scientific Research Institution of the Ministry of Defense Industry.
