Turkey unveils laser-armed, anti-drone armored vehicle

The saturation of cheap unmanned systems on the modern battlefield means militaries around the

world are trying to come up with cost-effective solutions. At this year's International Defense

Industry Fair in Turkey, the host country unveiled its answer to the small UAV problem

an anti-drone armored vehicle some are calling the world's first laser-armed tank

Say hello to the Alka Kaplan. While I would not go so far as to call it a tank

it is a tracked armored vehicle tailor-made to counter close-in unmanned threats

It's a joint venture between Turkish defense firms FNSS and RocketSan. FNSS makes the Kaplan hybrid armored vehicle itself

Rocketsand is responsible for the ALCA directed energy weapon system mounted on top

The ALCA actually brings two different anti countermeasures to the fight It can perform soft kills on mini and micro unmanned aerial vehicles using electromagnetic jamming systems or it can fire up its lasers for hard kills and take out fixed and rotary wing targets flying up to about a mile away

It's effective against single drones or swarms, and the lasers can also be used on ground or even waterborne threats

like IEDs, landmines, floating mines, and unexploded ordnance. The ALCA derives its power directly from the hybrid power pack on the Kaplan

which also provides the vehicle's propulsion. The system uses a diesel engine to power its electric drive system

but can also operate on battery power and run in silent mode

That's helpful if the Kaplan hybrid was, say, on a reconnaissance mission

The vehicle would be putting off less of a heat signature, so it would be harder to detect

with thermal optics. And since there's no engine running, it would certainly be harder to hear

FNSS says the Kaplan Hybrid can run in silent surveillance mode for up to 48 hours If it hot and the five crew wants the air conditioning turned on that time gets cut down to 14 hours

When it's time to roll out, the Kaplan's batteries give the vehicle a top speed of about 6 miles per hour

and a range of roughly 12 miles. But the thing was made to be as mobile as any other mechanized unit

So kick on the diesel engine and the almost 20 ton Kaplan hybrid gets up and goes at a speed that reportedly tops 40 miles per hour

Of course, in 2025, modularity and multi-role machines are the name of the game

So if customers wanted to add some more armaments to the Alka Kaplan like missile or mortar launchers, they can

The vehicle can also be used as a mobile power station as well, providing electricity to field hospitals, command centers, or other systems

The vehicle can also be configured to run semi-autonomously or under remote control

FNSS says the PowerPak architecture and all its subsystems were developed domestically and can be retrofitted onto other vehicles besides the Kaplan Like we said at the start of the story

the Alka Kaplan was just unveiled at this year's IDF, so we don't have a lot of info about customers

just yet. We might not have to wait too long before seeing the Kaplan in action, though

Ukraine just said pretty much any weapons maker who wants to use its front lines as a testbed for

new systems can do so. And there's already an established relationship between the two countries

The early days of the war with Russia, Ukrainian soldiers loved the Turkish-made

Bayraktar drones so much, they made a folk song about them. So if FNSS and RocketSan do decide to put the Alka Kaplan in Ukraine, and it proves a success

Perhaps the world will be introduced to another Ukrainian folk song about the laser-wielding weapon system

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