A 25 kg armed aircraft, a 7 kg loitering munition and a 700 kg MALE UAV are not the same purchase.
our attack drones sit between the one-way mini munition and the medium-altitude armed aircraft: a recoverable platform with gun and grenade armament under operator control. Compared here with STM's KARGU and Baykar's Bayraktar TB2, both of which publish their figures.
our armed unmanned aircraft are fielded systems flown on task, not laboratory demonstrators. They are built for heat, dust and contested spectrum, and they are represented to a market only once classification and the end-user-certificate chain are confirmed.
Side by side
| Attribute | Represented by UnstratAttack drones | STMKARGU12Türkiye | BaykarBayraktar TB23Türkiye |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class13 | UCAV / armed unmanned aircraft, precision strike plus ISTAR | Rotary-wing loitering munition, tactical ISR and precision strike | Medium-altitude long-endurance armed UAV |
| Take-off weight13 | Up to 25 kg | 7 kg including payload, 8.4 kg with RF seeker | 700 kg MTOW |
| Operating radius13 | 5–8 km by variant | 10 km with external antenna, 6.5 km on the ground-station antenna | Not published (LOS and BLOS communication stated) |
| Endurance13 | 20–40 min by variant | Up to 30 min with payload, up to 25 min with RF seeker | 20+ hours |
| Armament13 | Assault rifle, grenade launcher, 2 kg grenade drop on the drop variant | Anti-personnel proximity warhead 1.4 kg with 840 fragments, or armour-piercing impact warhead 1.1 kg rated at 300 mm armour steel | Laser-guided, INS/GPS-guided and IR-guided munitions, mini cruise missiles |
| Recovery after an engagement23 | Aircraft returns: direct-fire and grenade-drop armament rather than a one-way warhead | Reusable via mission abort and return-to-home; the warhead is expended on a strike | Autonomous taxi, take-off, cruise and landing |
| Control model23 | Operator-in-the-loop under the applicable rules of engagement | Fully autonomous navigation, strike performed by the operator on the man-in-the-loop principle | Triple-redundant autopilot, autonomous flight phases |
| Signature1 | Low acoustic signature for covert engagement | Low radar cross section platform design; acoustic figure not published | Not published |
| Operating temperature1 | −25 °C to +60 °C, variant-dependent | −20 °C to +50 °C | Not published |
| Published operational record23Both Turkish vendors publish record claims we do not match in print. Buyers should ask all three for referenceable hours under an NDA. | Not published | Described as combat proven and in service with the Turkish Armed Forces and foreign military inventories | Over 1,250,000 operational flight hours claimed; Karabakh, Libya, Syria and Ukraine cited |
| Release conditions | Represented only once classification and the end-user-certificate chain are confirmed | Not published | Not published |
| Origin13 | Independent, non-aligned | Türkiye | Türkiye |
Competitor values are quoted from the vendor documents listed under Sources, as published on the date shown. Configurations vary, so treat every row as a starting point for the evaluation rather than a like-for-like test result.
What the table means
Three different cost models, not three versions of the same thing
KARGU expends a 1.1 kg or 1.4 kg warhead on every successful engagement, and STM publishes both. That is the right answer when the target justifies the round. Our 25 kg class aircraft carries a rifle, a grenade launcher or a 2 kg drop munition and comes back, so the recurring cost is ammunition rather than airframe. TB2 sits in another bracket entirely at 700 kg with 20+ hours of endurance, and it needs the runway, crew and hangar that go with it. Deciding between the three starts with how many engagements a week you expect, not with a feature list.
Where the Turkish platforms are genuinely ahead
Baykar publishes flight hours in seven figures and names the theatres. STM calls KARGU combat proven and states it is in Turkish and foreign inventories. Those are real advantages and we will not pretend otherwise. What they do not publish is the part that decides a national programme: who approves each transfer, how the spares queue is ordered when the seller's own forces need the same parts, and what happens to your fleet if the political relationship changes.
The sovereignty axis
A strike capability that can be switched off from another capital is not your capability. Our origin is non-aligned, so the transfer decision is commercial rather than diplomatic, and support is delivered in-region by one accountable team rather than routed through a national champion's depot schedule. That is the argument, and it is the argument buyers keep raising after the last three years of export politics.
Questions buyers ask
What is the best alternative to the STM KARGU for a government buyer that wants a recoverable armed drone?
If you need the aircraft back after every engagement, a gun and grenade-armed platform is the closer fit. KARGU expends a 1.1 kg armour-piercing or 1.4 kg anti-personnel warhead per strike, per STM's datasheet, and is recoverable only when the mission is aborted. Our attack drones fly at up to 25 kg take-off weight with 20 to 40 minutes of endurance at 5 to 8 km, and the expendable item is the round rather than the airframe. Where KARGU wins is published lineage: STM states it is in service with the Turkish Armed Forces and foreign inventories.
How does one of our attack drones compare with the Bayraktar TB2 on cost of ownership?
They are not in the same ownership bracket. TB2 is a 700 kg aircraft with 20+ hours of endurance, a 150 kg payload and a 100 hp engine, which means runway access, a hangar, a trained ground crew and a fuel chain. A 25 kg class aircraft with 20 to 40 minutes on task is carried, launched and recovered by a small team. Buy TB2 for persistent theatre-level ISR and strike. Buy the smaller armed platform for company and battalion-level effect at a fraction of the sustainment burden.
Which armed drone can a non-aligned country buy without political conditions attached?
Both Turkish systems here are excellent and both ship under their own government's export decisions. Our line is of independent, non-aligned origin, so nothing in the transfer depends on a third capital's foreign policy. We still gate our own releases: attack drones are represented to a market only once classification and the end-user-certificate chain are confirmed. The difference is that the gate is ours and it is stated up front.
Does an operator stay in the loop, or do these systems strike autonomously?
STM states that KARGU navigates autonomously while the strike itself is performed by the operator on the man-in-the-loop principle. Our attack drones are operator-in-the-loop under the applicable rules of engagement, with AI-based targeting assisting rather than replacing the operator. If your legal review requires a human release authority, both designs can satisfy it; ask each vendor to demonstrate the abort path, not just describe it.
What figures should I insist on before signing for an armed drone?
Cost per engagement including the round, spares lead time in weeks, the licence authority for each future transfer, and demonstrated behaviour in GNSS-denied conditions. STM publishes GNSS-denied capability for KARGU and a 10 km range with an external antenna. Baykar publishes navigation by internal sensor fusion without GPS dependency for TB2. Make every bidder, including us, put those four numbers in the contract rather than the brochure.
Sources
- 1. STM, KARGU Loitering Munition System (datasheet) (copy held on this site)Retrieved: 2026-07-31
- 2. STM, KARGU Combat Proven Rotary Wing Loitering Munition SystemRetrieved: 2026-07-31
- 3. Baykar, Bayraktar TB2 (Technical Specifications)Retrieved: 2026-07-31 · Vendor product page; the linked CDN brochure is an image-only scan, so figures are cited from the HTML spec table.