UAV a ‘permanent’ Aegean visitor
A Turkish drone that was flying for hours inside the Athens flight information region (FIR) in the southeast Aegean region for a few days has turned into a “permanent” visitor.
As Kathimerini reported on July 25, it is an Aksungur drone that made its initial appearance in the Greek area of responsibility during the Kasos incident in July. The Aksungur returned to the southeastern Aegean on August 13 when Attica was ablaze and every available aircraft in the Hellenic Air Force was operating on the fire front.
The Turkish drone was flying in the southeast Aegean without a flight plan for at least three days, according to incident reports from the General Staff of National Defense. The conduct was noted as a violation of air traffic regulations by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
The first appearance of this type of drone alerted Greece’s military leadership’s responses, as, until the end of July, Turkey had not deployed an Aksungur within the Greek FIR. This is, after all, an unmanned aircraft with far more capability than the smaller Bayraktar that usually appears. The Turkish drone is reportedly set up for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions based on Greek fighters’ reconnaissance. It can also carry weapons with a total load of up to 750 kilograms for strike missions. Both the drone and its electrodes and armaments are manufactured by the Turkish defense industry. The Aksungur belongs to the MALE (Medium Altitude – Long Endurance) class and has served in the Turkish Navy forces since 2022.
For its part, the Hellenic Army General Staff expects to receive the first French-built Patroller drones in late 2024. This is an integrated system that will dramatically increase the surveillance capabilities of the Hellenic Armed Forces and specifically the land army, providing high-definition, long-distance imagery, thermal imaging and firing data.
Members of the General Staff will begin training on the system in the coming months. It is expected to be integrated into the Greek arsenal and enter service within 2025. Athens has not hidden its interest in obtaining the first integrated unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) system for the ground army by purchasing the Patroller, which is armed and doesn’t need any special upgrades. Furthermore, Greece and Israel have been in talks for a while regarding the procurement of the armed version of the UAV Heron, but they haven’t made any major headway as of yet.
