Turkish company Aselsan has demonstrated a new testing phase of its GÖKBERK, a counter-UAV directed energy weapon that was combined with the İHTAR electronic warfare system in its updated version.
During the tests, the combat laser proved effective against drones of various types, including a commercial quadcopter, a winged reconnaissance UAV, and an FPV drone.
The last one was actually the most difficult to defeat because FPV drones are generally made of a different, sturdier plastic; its components and electronic boards are arranged less densely, making them more survivable. This feature was studied in practice by the Swedish small arms manufacturer Norma to develop a special anti-drone round.
Back to Gökberk, the test demonstrated another very important pattern: even a brief thermal effect from a laser leads to the drone’s camera lens fogging up shortly. This renders a kamikaze drone helpless because neither the operator nor the machine vision algorithms can see the target of attack, thus effectively being neutralized.
Notably, Aselsan’s development is a relatively low-power laser. During the demonstration of the first iteration of Gökberk at IDEF 2023, the output was only 5 kW. Other developers use much more powerful alternatives, for example, the American DE M-SHORAD on Stryker chassis utilizes a 50-kilowatt laser.
On the one hand, the lower the power, the more time it takes to burn the target and the more relevant becomes the accuracy to keep the laser beam aimed at one point. On the other hand, low power means less electricity consumption and fewer worries about cooling.
The video shows that Gökberk can take down an airborne threat at distances of 1,200 to 1,500 meters, and it’s notable that it literally burns through the target by subjecting it to a long irradiation. The most interesting detail, however, is hidden in the frame showing the combat HUD interface of the system. It tells the temperature of the fiber optic laser, as indicated by the acronym YGL (Yüksek güçlü lazer), and it’s only 40 degrees when operating at maximum power.
Also, by combining its combat laser with its own electronic warfare system, Aselsan has not only added an extra layer of protection but simultaneously solved another issue, i.e. target detection. The İHTAR system comes with a radar operating in the Ku-band (10.7-12.75 GHz), it rotates at 30 revolutions per minute providing an all-round view of surroundings.
With this update, Aselsan has demonstrated how much the anti-drone system has evolved because, during its last presentation a year ago, it looked like this:
Evidently, the laser unit has undergone noticeable modifications, and the laser’s target engagement range has doubled. The chassis has changed, too.
