TAI Şimşek

The TAI Şimşek is a turbojet-powered, radio-controlled, high-speed target drone designed, developed and built by Turkish Aerospace Industries between 2009 and 2012 for the Turkish Armed Forces. Its name is the Turkish word for lightning. It simulates enemy aircraft and missiles for air-to-air, surface-to-air, anti-aircraft gunnery and missile tracking and firing training, and carries a Luneburg lens radar cross-section augmenter, a miss distance indicator and a countermeasure dispensing system. It is launched from a catapult and recovered by parachute, and can be operated from naval vessels. A prototype was shown at the International Defence Industry Fair in 2009, it made its maiden flight on 4 August 2012, and its listed maximum speed is 740 kilometres per hour. In July 2020 it was launched from a TAI Anka, the first time a target drone was launched from a UAV.