Another Turkish Akıncı Drone Was Shot Down, This Time Over Iraq (Videos)

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A Turkish Bayraktar Akıncı combat drone crashed on October 14 in the northern Iraqi semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.

A video showing the drone falling from the sky surfaced online, along with another of the wreckage somewhere on the slopes of Qandil Mountains. Notably, one piece of the wreckage carried the signature of Turkey’s founding father Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Later, a local official told Rudaw that “fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) shot down the drone” over the mountainous region.

The Akıncı, produced by Baykar, is one of Turkey’s largest drones. It has an operational range of 7,500 kilometers, an endurance of 25 hours and a service ceiling of over 12 kilometers. The drone was developed to carry out strategic missions, including reconnaissance, surveillance, and precision strikes.

The PKK has not yet confirmed that its air defenses downed the Turkish drone, but this remains the strongest possibility.

Last year, the Kurdish guerilla group intercepted multiple Turkish drones, including at least one Akıncı, over Kurdistan using a secretive air defense system.

And earlier this year, specifically on March 16, the group again shot down another drone that was identified as an Akıncı using the same system.

While the PKK has not yet unveiled the air defense system in question, it has been widely speculated by military observers that the system is an Iranian-made drone-missile hybrid identified by the U.S. military and intelligence as “Type 358”. The interceptor is said to have a range of 150 kilometers.

Turkey promoted the Akıncı aggressively, presenting it as its most advanced drone and claiming that it was capable of carrying out missions usually preserved for manned fighter jets. However, the performance of the drone has been very bad to say the least.

In addition to the two losses over Iraq this year, four were shot down over Sudan, and another was shot down along Mali’s border with Algeria.

The Akıncı appears to be unsuitable at all for operations in contested airspace, even where the air defense capabilities of the other side are very limited.

This on its own is not a problem for drones in general because they are meant to be used in high-risk operations. However, with a reported cost of over $30 million per unit, the Akıncı makes very little sense for deployment in such operations.

It’s worth noting that the latest Turkish drone crash in Kurdistan came amid a ceasefire between the PKK and Turkey, which is meant to facilitate the disarmament of the group.

The ceasefire entered into effect in March, and the PKK said in May that it would dissolve itself as a part of the deal with Turkey, which should also secure the release of the group’s founder and leader Abdullah Öcalan. Both sides seem committed to the deal, but it is unclear yet how much progress has been made.

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