Turkey’s new threat to the Mediterranean countries

The Turkish threat in the Eastern Mediterranean is reaching a new peak

Turkey is recognized as the country with the strongest navy and shipyard capabilities in the Eastern Mediterranean, which poses a threat to all the countries of the region – and especially to Israel, Greece and Cyprus. As part of a new attempt by Ankara to diversify its significant naval capabilities in Mila, the Turkish National Security Council ordered the purchase of no less than 100 captured unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Those entrusted with managing the project are the Turkish Defense Industries Secretariat (SSB), under which all local companies are managed. In an attempt to optimize procurement and production rate, Ankara decided to purchase from three different suppliers at the same time. The first joint venture chosen includes the Aslasan company, one of the largest in the country, which created with Ares Shipyards the Tufan drone.

The second supplier is the STM company, which cooperates with Yunja Shipyards, in the production of “Acto”. The third group includes the Avalsan company, which works with Shipyards. The distribution of the orders between the groups is quite equal: 40 for Aslasan, 32 for STM, and 32 from Avalsan. The Tupan, from which 40 units were purchased, is eight meters long, 1.8 meters wide, and carries explosives weighing About 87 kg. Yakto, according to publications, is about 5.8 meters long. The final Turkish goal is to create a “swarm” attack capability, which is launched from UAVs, using UAVs in the sea – with the use of a maximum number of tools.

US laser programs stand still

The State of Israel is considered one of the leaders in the world in the field of defense R&D (research and development), including in the field of lasers where the development of a solid light system for air defense using lasers has already been completed. The use of advanced technology is intended, first and foremost, to reduce interception costs drastically, from tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars per interception to just a few dollars.

In an update given to the House of Representatives, the head of naval operations of the US Navy, Admiral Daryl Kodel, admitted that the implementation of laser protection systems in vessels is a reality, but it is not yet around the corner. “Energy weapons are a critical component of future naval warfare, especially for ballistic missiles,” Kodel noted. “The current paradigm that requires a compromise between defensive interceptors and offensive armaments is not sustainable.” However, according to him, the Navy does not yet have the capabilities to create such systems.

An area where the Americans woke up late, but managed to find a solution based on learning, is as cheap UAVs. The Americans drew inspiration for the Lucas roving weaponry from the Iranian Shahed 136, and have already used it against it in recent escalations. Thanks to the success, Washington decided to cooperate with the Shield AI company for the purpose of implementing advanced artificial intelligence and navigation capabilities, which will enable Lucas-based swarm attacks.

Russia’s upgraded UAV tactics

The one who is known as the most prominent customer of the Iranian UAVs is Russia, which based on the Shahed series created the domestic Gran series, which is produced on Russian soil – with the help of programs from the Islamic Republic. There is no combat arena in the world where such a large amount of unmanned means is used as the Russia-Ukraine war, whether it is in the air, on land, and at sea. This leads to ongoing upgrades of the air defense systems, and therefore there is Also a learning race in attacking abilities.

Ukrainian defense technology expert Sergey Baskarstanov said that the new method of the Russians to increase the scope of the vulnerability in the Ukrainian targets, is the initial launch of an observation drone that will map the Ukrainian target. After that, a dummy drone is launched next to Gran, with the goal that it will attract the attention of the Ukrainian soldiers to intercept it, since it does not appear to be a stray weapon. However, immediately after it comes the real stray weapon, and hits the target.

If it weren’t for the Russian ability to produce roving munitions at the Yelabuga factory, it would have found itself without UAVs, since Iran has diverted its entire production in favor of the campaign against the US and Iran. Moscow produces about 6,000 roving munitions per year beyond the independence of production, the biggest advantage of which is their negligible cost – about 30,000 dollars per unit.