ANKARA, Turkey — Military electronics specialist Aselsan, Turkey’s largest defense company, is developing two different types of surveillance and reconnaissance balloons — also called mini-zeppelins — to mainly be used along the country’s southeastern borders with Iraq and Syria.
The balloons are expected to function like Lockheed Martin’s Persistent Threat Detection System, a tethered aerostat-based system in use by the U.S. Army since 2004. The PTDS is equipped with multimission sensors to provide long endurance intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and communications, and was in support of coalition forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Aselsan is hoping to develop the "Water Drop" and the "Global" to detect terrorist activity and illegal crossings along Turkey’s borders with Syria and Iraq. The balloons will perform intelligence transmission, surveillance and reconnaissance and early warning missions, company official said.
The Water Drop will have a length of 16 meters and can fly at a maximum altitude of 1,000 meters. The smaller Global will fly at a maximum altitude of 500 meters. Both versions will have protection against weathering and light weapons. They will provide military bases and outposts with input gathered from 360-degree surveillance and reconnaissance activity.
The program comes as part of a broader border security concept Turkish officials have been devising since early 2016. It targets the Islamic fighters operating mostly from Syrian territory and Kurdish militants operating both from northern Iraq and Syria.
Along with the balloons, Turkey also wants to beef up its border security with a counter-mortar radar system known as "Serhat," as well as the "Korkut," a self-propelled air defense gun system. Both systems were developed by the state-controlled Aselsan.
Military officials think the surveillance balloons could provide quicker input into a ground station than a satellite relay.
They say they need a system like the PTDS that would give the military 24/7 border monitoring.
Burak Ege Bekdil was the Turkey correspondent for Defense News.
