Bayraktar Akinci performs successful trials of Roketsan's Alpagut and Eren ordnance.
The Alpagut Smart Loitering Munition System is a cutting-edge loitering munition developed by Turkish engineers, designed to provide precise, autonomous engagement of both stationary and moving targets on land and at sea.
Key Capabilities
Alpagut boasts several notable features that make it an effective tool in combat scenarios:
- Operational range of 60 km and endurance exceeding 60 minutes in the air, enabling extended target search and engagement periods.
- Day and night operational capability with advanced dual-mode seekers incorporating electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) sensors, allowing effective target detection, tracking, and recognition even in contested or low-visibility environments.
- Precision targeting with fire-and-forget functionality, enabling autonomous attack dives on designated targets after user approval, enhancing survivability and mission efficiency.
- Effective against a broad spectrum of targets: fixed and mobile land or naval targets, radar and communication systems, lightly armored vehicles, command centers, and opportunity targets.
- Resilient to jamming and electronic countermeasures, maintaining operational reliability in electronic warfare environments.
- Swarm capability, permitting coordinated deployment of multiple munitions to overwhelm complex or fortified enemy defenses autonomously.
- Seamless integration with manned and unmanned platforms, notably Turkish UCAVs (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles) like the Bayraktar Akinci and TB3, expanding strike flexibility and reach.
Combat Performance
In combat environments, Alpagut offers tactical and strategic advantages through its sustained loitering for surveillance and target acquisition, follow-on engagement of critical or fleeting targets, and ability to operate as single units or coordinated swarms. The system’s endurance and sensor package allow it to surveil areas before attacking high-value or time-sensitive targets autonomously. Integration with Turkish drones extends its operational radius and effectiveness, enabling strikes from beyond enemy air defense reach.
A recent successful test demonstrated Alpagut’s high precision and its compatibility with Bayraktar Akinci UAVs, confirming its operational readiness and potential as a game-changing smart weapon system for Türkiye’s defense forces. The test included Alpagut's successful separation from the aircraft, wing deployment, navigation, and optically-guided tests.
Development and Collaboration
Alpagut is the result of a joint effort between STM, Turkey's leading company in tactical mini-UAV production, and Roketsan, Turkey's rocket and missile center. The success of the LGK-82 firing test on Bayraktar Akinci is considered a concrete indicator of Turkey's engineers' vision and system integration capability.
[1] Bayraktar Akinci UCAV: https://www.baykar.com.tr/en/products/bayraktar-akinci-ucav [2] STM: https://www.stm.com.tr/en [3] Roketsan: https://www.roketscan.com/ [4] Aselsan: https://www.aselsan.com.tr/en [5] LGK-82 munition: https://www.aselsan.com.tr/en/products/munitions/lgk-82-munition
- The Alpagut Smart Loitering Munition System, a Turkish technology developed by STM and Roketsan, boasts a precision targeting capability with fire-and-forget functionality, allowing it to engage stationary or moving targets effectively.
- Demonstrating its compatibility with the Turkish UCAV Bayraktar Akinci, the Alpagut showcases its potential as a high-precision, Turkish-engineered smart weapon system, thus strengthening Türkiye's technological prowess in defense technologies.
