TAI Keklik

The TAI Keklik is a radio-controlled tracking target drone designed and built by Turkish Aerospace Industries, introduced in 2001 and used by the Turkish Armed Forces for target tracking in non-firing gunnery exercises. Its name is the Turkish word for partridge. The Ministry of National Defence contracted TAI for a low-cost training target in August 1995 for exercises with anti-aircraft guns and with radar-guided and heat-seeking missiles, the prototype was completed in July 1997 and the drone went into production in late 1999. It is a delta-winged composite aircraft powered by a 2.09 kilowatt OS-MAX 91 FX two-stroke engine, launched from a bungee catapult and recovered by parachute, and it can be relaunched within 15 minutes. It has been in the inventory of the Turkish Air Force and Turkish Army since November 2001 and also trains the operators of the larger Turna target drone.