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| Pakistan Receives First Wave of Bayraktar Akinci Drones from Türkiye |
Islamabad - After completing the Bayraktar Akinci drone operator training in Turkiye in October 2022, now in early April 2023 Pakistan has officially received the first batch of drones made by Baykar Technologies.
Bayraktar Akinci, which means invader (Raider), was officially launched at an exhibition titled Teknofest in Istanbul on September 17-22 2019. This drone, which is also nicknamed "Flying Fish", has a body length of 12.5 m, a height of 4.1 m, and a wingspan of 20m.
Its maximum take-off weight (MTOW) is 4.5 tonnes. The drone is powered by a pair of turboprop engines made by Ivchenko-Progress, Ukraine. Entering the MALE (Medium-Altitude, Long-Endurance) drone class, Bayraktar Akinci is capable of flying up to a maximum altitude of 12,192 m and a duration of 24 hours straight.
Bayraktar Akinci payload reaches 1,350 kg, with details of 450 kg of internal cargo and 900 kg of external cargo. The payload includes an AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar, Electronic Warfare (EW), and a satellite communications system.
As an attack reconnaissance drone, in addition to the MAM family of air-to-ground missiles, it can also carry Bozok, Cirit, and large-sized SOM-A missiles. Then the Mk.81 and Mk.82 types of bombs, both the standard version and the controlled bombs known as KGK and LGK.
As well as being used by the Turkiye Air Force and Army, since last year Akinci has been exported to Azerbaijan and Pakistan. It is said that two other potential countries that will acquire this drone are Kyrgyzstan and Indonesia.