Democracy of war

Written by Kostas Stupas

Democracy of war

A few days ago, Turkey tested the new Anka-3 drone, according to Turkish media reports.

It is a new drone belonging to Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) that has been shown to have stealth features, according to the same publications.

“Anka-3 reached an altitude of 8,000 feet during its flight, which lasted one hour and 10 minutes,” Daily Sabah wrote.

According to data issued by the Turkish side, the drone in question will be able to carry out a number of tasks (surveillance and others), and fly for a period of up to 10 hours and reach an altitude of 40,000 feet, with a payload of up to 1.2 tons. . It will also be able to carry air-to-air and air-to-surface ammunition.

Anka-3 is not the only new weapon system of this class that has been added to its neighbor's arsenal. There are dozens that have been added. The potential of most of them is probably deliberately exaggerated by the regime-manipulated Turkish media.

But many of them have been tested on live fire ranges outside Turkey with exceptionally good results. Türkiye is not the only emerging power producing successful defense technology products. There are currently many new countries producing technologically advanced weapons systems, and dozens that now have the capacity to do so.

Despite being a superpower, Russia needed to import Iranian drones in order to balance Ukrainian superiority with Turkish counterpart systems.

We observe countries that until a few years ago were completely dependent on 5 to 10 powerful defense industries in the East and West, producing cheap but effective weapons systems.

Confronting the Western fleet around the Red Sea, for example. With Iran-manipulated Houthi rebels launching drones and missiles at commercial and non-commercial ships, it could turn into an all-out war.

This is not because the Western arsenal is less effective, but rather because the cost-benefit ratio is disastrous.

When shooting down a drone that costs a few tens of thousands of dollars requires a missile that costs a few hundred thousand or a few million, the owner of the most expensive weapons could lose the war before it starts and before he knows it…

What has happened in recent years is the spread of advanced technology to a greater number of people and especially to a greater number of countries.

Today's cheap cell phone carries higher and more advanced technology than the entire spaceship did 20 to 30 years ago.

The mobile phone can be manufactured in dozens of third and developing world countries. It can also be repaired in hundreds of countries.

If one learns how to build and repair a mobile phone, it only takes a little experience to build the control mechanism for an air, land, sea or submarine drone. The drone can deliver a lethal explosive device to the heart of the target or transmit important information.

The diffusion of the technology is not considered particularly high, but it is effective enough in many countries of the region.

The high-tech radar on a Western warship or aircraft today is capable of tracking two to three hundred targets simultaneously within a radius of more than two hundred kilometers. Such a system could also direct the simultaneous shooting down of ten to twenty targets that it is trying to approach.

The same expensive weapon system would have difficulty handling 500 cheap remotely piloted or self-piloted drones at the same time.

There is a rapid expansion of the circle of people who have access to knowledge and the ability to access technologies that can create asymmetric threats.

Everyone can realize that there is a revolution in the field of defense technology that may occur in the coming years, which may upset the balance of power and increase the areas of combustion and war conflicts.

The “democratization” of war is combustible material on a dry plain. The slightest spark can cause an uncontrollable collapse…

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