Turkey Promotes Homemade Autonomous Attack Drone ‘Kamikaza’ To Saudi Arabia At AFED Expo

Turkey’s Defense Technologies Engineering and Trade Inc. (STM) is promoting locally made lightweight Kamikaze unmanned aerial vehicles to Saudi Arabia during an on-going global defense fair held in the capital of Riyadh.

At the 4th Armed Forces Exhibition for Diversity of Requirements and Capabilities (AFED 2018), STM General Director Davut Yılmaz said that they have been negotiating the sale of kamikaze UAVs with Saudi Arabia, Daily Sabah reports.

Kamikaza UAV or Kargu is an autonomous attack drone is designed in order to detection and strike against the enemy personnel or light armored vehicles. Kamikaze drones, lightweight and often operable by a single soldier, are designed to crash into a target to detonate a warhead.

According to Yılmaz, negotiations with Saudi Arabia have been positive and are continuing in different areas, especially in the sale of kamikaze UAVs. The two countries are also working on different projects regarding cybersecurity and aviation certificates. Yılmaz said it seems that agreement in these areas will be signed soon.

Citing that Saudi Arabia has its 2030 vision similar to the Turkish government's 2023 vision, Yılmaz said that STM and other Turkish companies think they can meet Saudi Arabia's 2030 vision. The condition of localization has been stipulated for major projects to be carried out by 2030. "This is important for us. If you promise this kind of localization to a country, it means you have reached a certain level of technology. So, now that we have promised this to the other party, this means we have reached at least a certain level of maturity in the sense of technology, which is a very good development for Turkey," he said.

Explaining that the most important project STM is currently following in Saudi Arabia is the National Ships (MİLGEM) corvettes project, Yılmaz said that they have been following the project for about three years and it is about to be finalized. According to Yılmaz, if nothing goes wrong, they will sign the agreement by summer 2018. He said that all is going well and no troubles have been experienced so far.