The cameras of the UAV/UCAV systems are covered with the CATS EO (Common Aperture Targeting System Electronic Optical) developed by ASELSAN.
Bayraktar TB2 UCAV which is developed by Baykar with domestic facilities and exported to 27 countries, was also supplied to Mali. The delivered UCAVs were seen during the visit of the Minister of Defense Colonel Sadio Camara to Mopti Air Base in Mali on Wednesday, December 21, 2022. As part of the visit, reconnaissance flights were carried out in the presence of Minister Sadio Camara and his delegation. During the flight, it was seen that ASELSAN’s CATS EO was used on the Bayraktar TB2 UCAV system. Together with Bayraktar TB2, the CATS EO system has also achieved export success in different countries.
Embargo and CATS
Canada had imposed an arms embargo on Turkey due to the Peace Spring Operation which was launched by Turkey on October 9, 2019 in order to prevent the terror corridor to be created in northern Syria. In April 2020, it was announced that the sanction decision was extended indefinitely by the Canadian authorities. In June 2020, after various diplomatic initiatives, the embargo on electro-optical systems used in UAVs was lifted.
However, after the Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs were used by Azerbaijan to liberate the occupied territories against Armenia, Canada decided to put an embargo again. After this embargo was applied on Canadian Wescam’s MX-15D system which were used in ANKA and Bayraktar TB2s, domestic CATS cameras were announced to begin mass production.
The integration activities of the CATS EO camera system to ANKA and Bayraktar TB2 were completed in 2021. The signing ceremony of the ASELSAN CATS Electro-Optical Sensor System purchase order contract between Baykar and ASELSAN was held at SAHA EXPO Defense and Aerospace Exhibition held in Istanbul EXPO Center in November 2021.
Haluk Görgün, Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Manager of ASELSAN, made the following statements to the correspondent of Anadolu Agency at TEKNOFEST Azerbaijan held in Azerbaijan on May 26, 2022:
“It is a reconnaissance surveillance system capable of thermal imaging, laser marking and tracking the target day and night. This is one of our military product family. We develop these equipment for both rotary wing systems and fixed wing unmanned aerial systems. As of today, more than 40 cameras have been delivered to the user. Our serial production continues. We have reached the level where we can produce 6 per month, we are trying to increase this to 10. CATS is a family of products. Our friends are developing advanced versions, and we plan to put them into service in the near future.”
