Türkiye’s ASELSAN is having a big presence at AAD 2024 as it attaches great importance to the African market and to this end is signing two MoUs with South African companies as part of its efforts to strengthen its presence on the continent.
Speaking to defenceWeb, ASELSAN CEO & President Ahmet Akyol emphasized that “Africa is an extremely important region for ASELSAN, and we are committed to maintaining our strong presence across the continent. Our sales to the African continent concentrate on the fields of border security, air defence, air platform payloads and jammer systems, with equipment in service in 21 African countries. Our long-term goal in the region is to contribute to the security of African countries by providing customized solutions for Africa’s defence and security needs”.
“We are joining AAD with a wide array of products to increase awareness on our solutions and to enhance our existing collaborations in the South Africa market and in Africa in general, and to strengthen our presence in the African market and develop new collaborations with potential business partners in the region. Within this framework, we will sign two separate Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with two well-established companies in South Africa during AAD,” he said.
In 2011 ASELSAN opened its South Africa office as South Africa’s strategic position serve as a gateway to the African continent, and coupled with its size, economic influence, and advanced infrastructure, makes it an ideal base for expanding its presence across the region. “Moreover, South Africa’s deep-rooted history in the defence industry provides a strong foundation for collaboration. By leveraging the country’s established expertise and tradition in defence manufacturing, ASELSAN is well-positioned to integrate advanced technologies and innovative solutions tailored to the specific needs of the region,” Akyol said.
“Our presence in South Africa allows us to play a pivotal role in the defence and security of sub-Saharan Africa and at ASELSAN South Africa, our focus is now centred on extending ASELSAN’s solutions and capabilities across South Africa and its neighbouring countries. We are committed not only to delivering advanced defence and technology solutions but also to sharing our technology with the region, ensuring that our innovations contribute to security, while also promoting economic growth, technological advancement, and skills development—key elements for long-term stability and prosperity in the region”.
With the increasing security threats in Africa and the need to provide advanced solutions to defeat these threats, ASELSAN is promoting its radar systems, electronic warfare solutions, communication systems, electro-optical systems, border security solutions and unmanned aerial vehicles. “With these products and systems, ASELSAN aims to help African countries develop their own defence industries and enhance their national security,” Akyol maintained.
At AAD 2024, ASELSAN is prominently featuring its border security systems, counter-drone solutions, critical facility security systems, avionics modernization solutions, communication systems, as well as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) payloads, guided munitions, and guidance kits.
“We expect our next-generation electro-optical reconnaissance, surveillance, and targeting system ASELFLIR-500 to be at the spotlight during the fair as a leading system of its type, and we regard the İHTAR, designed to counter mini and micro UAVs as one of our highlights. It can detect, classify, and track these threats and neutralize them using various effectors, including jamming and physical destruction,” Akyol elaborated. A related item shown is the KANGAL jammer subsystem, intended to protect against both remotely-triggered IEDs and small direct attack UAVs.
The ASELFLIR-500 is a lightweight (52 kg), single LRU system intended as a surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting sensor for fixed and rotary wing aircraft and UAVs. It comprises a high-resolution IR and SWIR NIR cameras, high-definition day TV and laser target designator with an internal boresight system. A particular innovation is its use of AI image-processing algorithms
Other equipment Akyol believes to be of particular interest to African security forces include the MİDAS fibre-optic-based, highly sensitive detection system for the protection of important locations such as critical facilities, national borders, oil/gas pipelines, and energy transmission lines from violations, theft, terrorism, infiltration and sabotage; the ACAR-K ground surveillance radar; and DORUK-120 handheld electro-optical system.
The ACAR-K Ku-Band ground surveillance radar is offered in variants with an instrumented range of 15 or 40 km. It can also be used for artillery fire adjustment. It is a low probability of intercept radar with track-while-scan, multi-target tracking and automatic track classification, and provides selectable range scales and display options including a digital map overlay.
The 4.2 kg DORUK-120 combines a thermal imager and colour TV with selectable close, medium and distant fields of view along with a 20 km range laser range-finder, a GPS receiver and a digital magnetic compass. It has automatic image optimization and enhancement and allows real-time calculation of target coordinates, target coordinate transmission via radio, and data and image storage.
“We are also presenting our laser-guidance kit GÖZDE and our TOLUN 140 kg, 100 km, range guided stand-off munition,” Akyol said. Both use GPS-aided INS for navigation and respectively laser and imaging infrared terminal guidance to achieve accuracy and reduce the risk of collateral damage.
Other items highlighted at AAD 2024 include the YENER modern mine detection system integrated with an 8×8 armoured vehicle, and ASELSAN’s vehicle, backpack, airborne and naval radios, interrogators and transponders showcased as part of its communication solutions.
Very relevant, given the proliferation of UAVs, ASELSAN’s İHTAR is a multi-sensor system to counter mini and micro UAVs, with detection, classification, tracking and jamming capability. It combines the ACAR Ku-band pulse-dopper radar with multi-target tracking and track-while-scan against mini-UAVs (RCS 0.8 m2) at 3 km, and TV/thermal cameras with automatic video tracking. Integrated with the sensors is the GERGEDAN RF software defined programmable jammer employing digital frequency synthesizing to jam remote control devices, radios, GPS receivers, Wi-Fi, ISM Bands, GSM900/1800, 3G and 4G. A related piece of equipment is the KANGAL jammer, intended to protect vehicles and personal against remotely initiated IEDs and UAVs.
Other electronic warfare systems offered by ASELSAN are the ILGAR communications disruption and VURAL radar ESM systems. ILGAR is designed for electronic attack on target V/UHF communications systems, jamming or delaying communications and allowing insertion of false information. It is a high-power output system with reactive mixing capability and increased mixing efficiency compared to older systems.
Akyol made the point that ASELSAN is continuously expanding its product range and incorporating innovative technologies into its systems. To just mention a few items:
• At the beginning of this year, ASELSAN made the first export of the ASELFLIR-500 and of the GÖZDE laser precision guidance kit.
• ASELSAN has delivered DÜFAS, its first towed sonar system to the Turkish Navy.
• ASELSAN successfully completed the first diving tests of Türkiye’s first autonomous unmanned underwater system, DERİNGÖZ.
• Aelsan integrated the AESA MURAD aircraft nose radar into the F-16 platform.
• ASELSAN’s MARLIN is the first unmanned marine vehicle to be included in the inventory of the Turkish Armed Forces.
• ASELSAN developed the communication payload for Türkiye’s first indigenous communication satellite, TÜRKSAT-6A, launched in July.
• During trials the TOLUN Guided Munition fired from an F-16 fighter hit its target with high precision even in the intense GNSS jamming environment.
• ASELSAN is playing a leading role in the Steel Dome project, an indigenous multilayered airspace control and air defence system, incorporating a network-centric and AI-supported mechanism, designed to protect Turkish airspace. ASELSAN will design the system-of-systems architecture that will enable the fully integrated operation of “command control systems, sensor systems, weapon systems, and communication systems”. Recently Steel Dome’s component HİSAR O-100 air and missile defence system destroyed targets directly with success at a distance of 40+ kilometres.
“We are proud to have moved up from 47th to 42nd place in the top 100 defence companies worldwide with more than 500 products across various sectors and sales to 88 countries worldwide,” Akyol told defenceWeb.
“Apart from defence we are also active in smart city solutions, healthcare products, and renewable energy technologies. We have some 14 000 staff including our subsidiaries, 63% of them engineers and 30% with postgraduate degrees. In 2023 our defence revenues reached some $3 billion, with nearly 30% growth, with total revenue of $3.2 billion”.
“Looking forward, we have set a goal to be in the top 30 global defence companies by 2030, growing by developing best-in-class products, creating game-changing technologies and through global expansion, which includes strengthening our presence in Africa,” Akyol concluded.
