The famous Turkish drone manufacturer Baykar recently presented a new, AI-powered loitering ammunition called K2 KAMIKAZE Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The company stated that the new drone also performed an “intelligent swarm autonomy tests,” which has seen a formation flight tests with 5 aircraft in varying configurations” over the Gulf of Saros.

According to the company, the 5 K2, taking off from the Kesan Flight Training and Test Center, successfully performed "right echelon," "line," and "V" formation flights during multi-sortie tests, using their “artificial intelligence, sensors, and software to determine their position relative to other aircraft in the swarm, maintaining their place within the formation without error and successfully completing all assigned tasks.” The KAMIKAZE UAV is also able to execute other swarm configurations, including the "Turan" and "wall" formations.

After the tremendous success of its MALE/HALE drones in the global market as TB-2 and AKINCI, Baykar has decided to also exploit its wide know-how in the micro/mini drones and loitering munitions market. The company is strongly convinced to repeat its previous successes with K2 within the framework of its cost-effective defense solutions strategy. Indeed, the project aims to field “high-impact platforms that can be mass-produced at low cost, minimizing the use of expensive munitions” against adversary's critical targets.

As strong advertisement, the Turkish company strongly believe that the K2 navigation architecture will allow the UAV to operate in electronic warfareenvironments “where global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are absent or subject to heavy jamming.” The platform can visually scan terrain features through its gimbal camera and the night-vision-capable camera system and conduct uninterrupted navigation without using GNSS signals. The center of gravity of the UAV is the EO/IR gimbal camera system on board, used both for navigational purposes and to conduct reconnaissance, surveillance and targeting with pinpoint accuracy through its visual lock-on feature.

The K2 has maximum takeoff weight of 800 kg and it’s able to carry 200 kg of payload. Its range exceeding 2,000 km, speed of over 200 km/h, and endurance of more than 13 hours enable the platform to conduct long-range missions.

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