Just when Turkey’s TB-2 drone was killing all sides on overseas battlefields, on March 12, the founder and chief technology officer of the drone’s manufacturer, Bairaktar Company, Seljuk Bairak Tal announced on his social media: After three and a half years of research and development, a larger and more agile fish has entered the production line. He used fish to describe the drone because the company's previous large drone was named "Akıncı" which means flying fish.
The new generation of drones is called the National Unmanned Aircraft System (MIUS), which has been named "Kızılelma", which means "red apple", but in Turkish , it can be extended to the meaning of prospect and vision. MUIS is likely to enter its first flight in late 2023. The first prototypes were subsonic, later prototypes were supersonic . The
MIUS will be a single-engine drone. The fuselage uses a tailless, blended wing fuselage design to reduce the radar cross section (RCS). The aircraft has two canards but no horizontal stabilizers and two tilted vertical stabilizers. Air intakes are located on both sides of the fuselage.
MUIS is also Turkey's first drone with a turbofan jet engine, with a maximum take-off weight of 5,500 kilograms and is expected to carry 1.5 tons of payload, including air-to-air, air-to-ground and air-launched cruise missiles . . Ammunition will be carried inside the weapons bay to keep RCS low. The aircraft will have wing mount hardpoints for external weapons transport, a mission not necessary at low RCS. The company said MIUS will combine artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligent swarm autonomy technologies to enable multiple aircraft to operate independently or fly alongside and support manned fighter jets. MIUS can also act as a "loyal wingman" for manned fighter jets.
It is expected that the drone will carry out various military operations such as strategic attack, close air support (CAS), missile attack, suppression of enemy air defense system (SEAD), and destruction of enemy air defense system (DEAD). MUIS will be jet-powered and is expected to be able to take off and land on Turkey's flagship amphibious assault ship Anadolu.
November 2021 Bylaktar signed a contract with the Ivchenko Progressive Design Bureau, one of the major Ukrainian defense industry companies, to procure engines for MIUS. According to the agreement, the Ivchenko Progressive Design Bureau is expected to supply the aircraft with AI-322F turbofan engines.
Bairaktar CEO Seljuk Bairaktar said that Ukraine and Turkey are two strategic partners, noting that his company's Akıncı drone has already been tested by the Ivchenko-Progress Design Bureau. AI-450 engine provides power. "According to the new contract, we will install the AI-322F engine jointly produced by Ivchenko-Progress Design Bureau and Motor Sich on the drone. I hope this deal will further promote the strategic cooperation between the two countries. "
AI-322 engine, length 3138 mm, fan diameter 624 mm; maximum afterburning thrust 4200 kg, fuel consumption rate 1.9 kg/kg thrust-hour; maximum thrust without afterburning 2500 kg, fuel consumption rate 0.66 kg/ kg thrust - hours. ; The total supercharging ratio is 15.4, the bypass ratio is 1.18, and the thrust-to-weight ratio is 7.5. When the afterburner is not turned on, the maximum cruising speed reaches about Mach 0.95. If the afterburner is turned on, the maximum flight Mach number can reach 1.4.
In addition, the AI-322 engine also adopts a full-authority digital electronic control system (FADEC), which is the first engine in this category to adopt a FADEC control system, with good maneuverability and stability. AI-322F is an afterburner version of AI-322. It can meet the use requirements of various advanced trainer aircraft , and can also be equipped on L-15 "Falcon" advanced trainer aircraft.
But the current Russia-Ukraine conflict is clouding the future of this drone. Russia has announced that it will attack the Ukrainian military enterprise . If Ivchenko-Progress Design Bureau and Motor Sich are destroyed, the drone's engine will have to be found elsewhere. Although the Turks have long planned to replace the Ukrainian engine with the domestic TEI/TF-6000 engine. However, the first turbojet engine made in Turkey is still under development, and it is still unknown whether the performance can meet the technical requirements. (Power talks about the world/Zhang Mi)
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