Drones

Turkey acquires machine gun-toting octocopters with anti-recoil systems

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Turkey is about to receive its first shipment of machine gun multicopters
Asisguard
Weighing 25 kg, the Songar can hit a 15-sq-cm target from 200 m away
Asisguard
Turkey is about to receive its first shipment of machine gun multicopters
Asisguard

Turkey is preparing to receive its first shipment of armed multicopter drones this month, according to New Scientist. Made by the country's own Asisguard, the Songar drone can carry 200 rounds of 5.56 x 45 mm NATO class ammo, and can hit a 15-cm-square (6-inch-square) target from 200 m (650 ft) away with single shots, 15-bullet bursts or a full auto unloading.

The 25-kg (55-lb) drones use a four-armed carbon body design with two coaxially mounted large props on each arm. The automatic machine gun beneath rests in a tilting mount, allowing a remote operator to aim it using controls that would be familiar to anyone who's used the camera on a DJI Phantom.

It carries sufficient battery and powerful enough communications to fly 10 km (6.2 mi) on a mission, it's GPS and GLONASS stabilized, and it offers twin camera operation for a pilot and gunner if required.

Weighing 25 kg, the Songar can hit a 15-sq-cm target from 200 m away
Asisguard

Where camera drones carry gimbals to stabilize vision, this thing has an automatic shooting stabilization system to cancel out recoil and keep the gun on target as it fires, while a camera streams back footage of the target for damage evaluation. The whole thing looks eerily like a video game.

It's certainly not on the tech or expense level of many of the unmanned drones that the United States rolls out on a daily basis – but then, that's kind of the point. Armed quads like the Songar require fairly basic technology, and yet they can still put bulk holes in things from unexpected angles, far enough away that a target might never even be aware they're in the air. Very difficult to defend against.

Check out a video of the Songar in action below.

Source: Asisguard

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7 comments
Gordon Torbet
Armed military drones in the hand of the Turkish Government/military. This is a very bad idea. In a country that's rapidly becoming a police state, don't be surprised when it gets used for 'crowd control'.
Mzungu_Mkubwa
I just knew all that time shootin' skeet would pay off! "Pull!" (Ought to be pretty fun takin' those out! Stealthy they ain't, & their limited FOV means you'll see them before they spot you! The only time it may be a challenge is at night when they're rockin' IR vision. ☺)
paul314
Weren't these things the province of dystopian SF movies just a few years ago? I also have to wonder how secure the control link is.
Douglas Rogers
Good for post apocalyptic food depot defense!
neoneuron
Why, why is it that the first thing people do when they get a hold of good technology is to use it for unlawful surveillance or evil.
Nelson Hyde Chick
Skynet is almost here, goodbye humanity, machines will inherit the earth.
MQ
It maybe better not rely-too strongly on GPS.. The US will dither the signal to "non-allies" before too long - in the event of any hostilities where Turkey will most likely be on the wrong side of history - probably the winning side, short term....

(NATO is going through stage 3 (or so) of its relationship breakdown).