Malaysia picks Turkish defense firm in drone deal

MELBOURNE, Australia, and MERSIN, Turkey — Malaysia has selected Turkish Aerospace Industries to provide three unmanned aircraft, according to the Southeast Asian nation’s defense minister .

“[F]or the procurement of three (3) MALE-UAS units, the Government has decided to contract with Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI),” Hishammuddin Hussein said in a statement Sunday.

The purchase will be funded under the country’s five-year spending plan, rather than its defense budget, the minister added.

TAI had pitched its Anka, a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system . According to a TAI news release from 2019 ahead of the defense and aerospace LIMA expo, the company was set to hold high-level talks on exporting the Anka.

On Aug. 18, 2022, Malaysian King Al-Sultan Abdullah visited TAI’s facilities in Ankara, Turkey. Then on Oct. 7, TAI announced a memorandum of understanding for collaboration with MIMOS, Malaysia’s research and development center.

TAI has not issued a statement on the agreement, and company officials declined to comment for this story.

The Anka family of drones can perform reconnaissance, target acquisition and identification, and intelligence gathering missions. It features electro-optical/infrared and synthetic-aperture radar technologies. The manufacturer says the aircraft have autonomous flight capabilities and can take off and land on their own.

The UAV family has a wingspan of 17.5 meters and a length of 8.6 meters, and has a service ceiling of 30,000 feet. They can remain airborne at the operational altitude of 18,000-23,000 feet for more than 30 hours.

It’s possible Malaysia will choose the Anka-S version, which is in use with the militaries of Turkey and Tunisia . That variant boasts a data link range of 250 kilometers (31 miles) and an endurance of 30 hours. It can be armed with a variety of precision-guided bombs and missiles developed in Turkey, including the MAM series of laser-guided bombs that have seen combat in Libya, Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine.

TAI also manufactures the Aksungur drone, which has a higher payload and endurance, and is in service with the Turkish military.

Malaysia’s armed forces and Coast Guard are focused on piracy along its coasts as well as militancy and terrorism in the Sulu Sea, which lies between eastern Malaysia and the southern Philippines.

Malaysia is made up of two separate landmasses with coastlines along the strategic Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea. It is also one of six claimants of ownership over the disputed Spratly group of islands.

Mike Yeo is the Asia correspondent for Defense News.

Tayfun Ozberk is a Turkey correspondent for Defense News.

澳大利亚墨尔本和土耳其梅尔辛——据东南亚国家马来西亚国防部长称，马来西亚已选择土耳其航空航天工业公司提供三架无人机。

“政府已决定与土耳其航空航天工业公司（TAI）签订合同，采购三（3）架中空长航时无人机系统（MALE-UAS）。”希沙姆丁·侯赛因周日在一份声明中表示。

这位部长补充说，此次采购将由该国五年支出计划提供资金，而不是由国防预算提供资金。

TAI曾推介其Anka无人机系统，这是一款中空长航时无人机系统。根据TAI在2019年国防和航空航天展（LIMA）前发布的新闻稿，该公司计划就Anka的出口举行高级别会谈。

2022年8月18日，马来西亚国王阿卜杜拉访问了土耳其安卡拉的TAI公司。随后在10月7日，TAI宣布与马来西亚研发中心MIMOS签署合作谅解备忘录。

TAI尚未就此协议发表声明，公司官员也拒绝就此事置评。

安卡系列无人机可执行侦察、目标捕获与识别以及情报收集任务。它配备了光电/红外和合成孔径雷达技术。制造商表示，该系列无人机具备自主飞行能力，能够独立起飞和降落。

该无人机系列翼展17.5米，长度8.6米，实用升限30000英尺。它们可以在18000-23000英尺的作业高度上保持飞行30小时以上。

马来西亚有可能选择安卡-S型无人机，土耳其和突尼斯军队目前都在使用该型无人机。该型号无人机的数据链传输距离为250公里（31英里），续航时间为30小时。它可以搭载多种土耳其研制的精确制导炸弹和导弹，包括在利比亚、叙利亚、纳戈尔诺-卡拉巴赫和乌克兰等地投入实战的MAM系列激光制导炸弹。

TAI 还生产 Aksungur 无人机，该无人机有效载荷和续航时间更长，目前已在土耳其军队服役。

马来西亚武装部队和海岸警卫队重点打击沿海海盗活动以及苏禄海（位于马来西亚东部和菲律宾南部之间）的武装分子和恐怖主义活动。

马来西亚由两块独立的陆地组成，海岸线分别位于具有战略意义的马六甲海峡和南海沿岸。它也是六个声称对存在争议的南沙群岛拥有主权的国家之一。

Mike Yeo 是《防务新闻》的亚洲通讯员。

Tayfun Ozberk 是《防务新闻》驻土耳其记者。