Officially, Turkey has now "captured" the airport of Lefkonikos in Cyprus, so that it can be turned into one of the largest Turkish bases of offensive unmanned aerial vehicles in the Eastern Mediterranean.
"The rights to assign and use Lefkonikos airport are transferred to the Turkish army. The Council of Ministers of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) authorized the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to sign a protocol with Turkey regarding the concession of the airport, and the concession of rights of use to the Turkish Forces Command, this is reported by the "government" newspaper in Northern Cyprus.
"The Council of Ministers, with the aim of improving the existing relations of friendship and brotherhood between the two countries, has prepared with the aim of developing military training activities and cooperation between the armed forces of the two sides, with the right to use the airport in Lefkoniko", the same report continues.
Turkey intends with this fleet to control the sea channels not only around Cyprus, but to expand to Gaza, southern Crete and the Eastern Mediterranean. It has been known for a long time that Turkey is preparing a large aeronautical base, with the airport in occupied Lefkoniko, to be "filled" with armed unmanned aerial vehicles.
Combined with the naval base in Famagusta, the Turks will be able to quickly send Turkish warships to escort the drilling rigs in the area, controlling a large part of the Eastern Mediterranean.
The warnings of experts, especially M. Rubin, show that Turkey is seeking its expansion in the Eastern Mediterranean through the "Blue Homeland" dogma, in an attempt to encircle Greece and Cyprus by sea, while on land it has created an axis in Bulgaria, Skopje and Albania.
The Turkish defense industry is preparing a new hybrid drone
The Turks are preparing a new drone, which will have a maximum flight speed of 150 kilometers per hour, while it will be able to stay in the air for 12 hours, longer than any of the existing drones.
One of the results of the Ukrainian crisis has been the growing popularity of drones among all sides.
Emerging demand is encouraging manufacturers to create new unmanned aerial vehicles. One of the most interesting is the Bayraktar DIHA, the first test of which was made by the Turkish company Baykar Makina.
The abbreviation DIHA stands for "Vertical Takeoff/Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle". Bayraktar DIHA, the design of which the company has been working on for several years, made a flight at a height of about 2.5 thousand meters, returned to the base and landed.
The peculiarity of the Turkish vertical takeoff and landing drone is that two types of engines were combined in the DIHA design. The electric one will be used for vertical takeoff and landing, and a small internal combustion engine with low fuel consumption, created by Erin Motor, will provide normal level flight. The engine has electronic fuel injection, which makes it more reliable.
The maximum height to which the new Turkish drone can climb reaches six thousand meters. With a maximum take-off weight of 50 kg, the payload is only five kg. Not much, but enough to put a high resolution day and night vision camera and a laser range finder and target designator on board.
DIHA can be used for laser target illumination to guide high-precision missiles. Serial production and deliveries of the Bayraktar DIHA to Turkish troops are scheduled to begin this year.
