We believe that UNIROBOTICS has a bright future on RCWS for both naval and land platforms.
UNIROBOTICS, a very young and dynamic SYS subsidiary, enjoys the limelight thanks to the success it achieves with its projects, its technological comprehension of its niche, and its product development concept.
Ömür Baç, Founding Partner and General Manager of UNIROBOTICS:
We believe that UNIROBOTICS has a bright future on RCWS for both naval and land platforms.
UNIROBOTICS, a very young and dynamic SYS subsidiary, enjoys the limelight thanks to the success it achieves with its projects, its technological comprehension of its niche, and its product development concept. In the 6th issue of CANiK News, we have made the great strides UNIROBOTICS took in a very short period of time in our cover story, with a focus on the TARGAN remote-controlled stabilized weapon station. We hope CANiK readers will enjoy this informative review.
CANiK News: Mr. Baç, this interview will be on your efforts onRCWS, with a focus on TARGAN. Before we dive head-first into TARGAN, could you share some information on UNIROBOTICS for CANiK fans?
Ömür BAÇ: UNIROBOTICS is a subsidiary of Samsun Yurt Savunma (SYS). SYS could not afford to disregard the ever-increasing specialized needs for weapons systems while it developed to be a global actor with the firearms it designed and produced. UNIROBOTICS was founded to meet these needs, and to produce products and services with high technological added value on electromechanics, embedded systems, and mechatronics.
According to this main goal, one of the first projects of UNIROBOTICS was to make small arms intelligent. In addition, as a part of UNIROBOTICS’ weapon system integration efforts, the development of active-stabilized weapon mounts, remote-controlled weapon systems and weapon management systems were the other fields we focused.
CANiK News: How did you start developing TARGAN?
Ömür BAÇ: The task of developing remote-controlled weapon stations to be used in Offshore Patrol Vessels that are being constructed by ASFAT for the Turkish Naval Forces was given to us, as a subcontractor of HAVELSAN, on 1 October 2021. As such, our priority became the completely domestic and national development of electro-optical systems, motors, software, and all other components of the TARGAN remote-controlled weapon station armed with CANiK M2 heavy machine gun.
UNIROBOTICS Can Create Results Very Quickly
CANiK News: Which phase are you on regarding TARGAN’s development?
Ömür BAÇ: We have completed the design phase for the product, and we have now moved on to the production and qualification phases. We have a prototype and two serial-production model TARGAN turrets. All the required processes for the qualification of these turrets, especially live fire tests, are running smoothly. This will be followed by deliveries to the Turkish Naval Forces and then naval tests. After these tests are complete, we will be offering TARGAN as a product we have developed with our own efforts and produced with the highest domestic product ratio to the service of Turkish Naval Forces on a national platform.
TARGAN is a system designed for the Turkish Naval Forces Command, and this alone is very significant. The task of providing close defense to an Offshore Patrol Vessel requires harmonious operation with various systems in the Turkish Naval Forces, beyond just the engineering capabilities required for the development of an RCWS. It is not enough to create an electronic and mechanical system that can withstand the corrosion caused by sea conditions. We needed to face the challenges of running a multidisciplinary project at the highest level, including a fully harmonious operation with the combat management system, electromagnetic compliance, and the lowest possible radar signature. For this reason, we made a comprehensive effort for the first phase of TARGAN’s development, with a long-winded research and preparation process.
As UNIROBOTICS, our goal is to develop and produce all our systems in-house. As such, we need to advance many of our development processes simultaneously. For example, our department on electro-optical systems is advancing together with the subsystems and sub-software of the system that will be used. On the mechanical design front, the hardware to control these mechanics is done in-house as well, even including designing the circuit boards. In parallel, the software that controls this hardware and connects it to each other and to the user is developed, tested and refined.
Right now, we are at the most exciting phase of this project, as we can see the product we designed is working, and we are excited about it. However, this is also the hardest phase, because we are testing the complete system, along with its subsystems and components, one by one, again and again. We are qualifying the product, and after qualification, the Turkish Naval Forces will commence. the long and arduous acceptance tests for our product.
We also plan to hold a factory acceptance ceremony for TARGAN in the next few months.
It is important to be a participant in the defense and aerospace ecosystem.
CANiK News: One and a half years have passed since your contract was signed with HAVELSAN, on 1 October 2021. Considering UNIROBOTICS was founded in May 2020, how did you get to where you are now so quickly?
Ömür BAÇ: Even though our company was newly founded, it was not alone. Firstly, SYS was there for us regarding mechanical production. They shared all the experience and know-how they had accumulated over the years, not only in the production of firearms, but also in the production of precision parts for many defense and aerospace companies. As such, the UNIROBOTICS team was able to utilize extensive know-how on not just optimizing mechanical designs, but also the preparation processes for mass production.
SYS also assigned its qualified personnel along with many active workshops to our project. As such, UNIROBOTICS had the privilege to produce an RCWS in assembly lines and workshops that also produced the CANiK M2 QCB heavy machine gun the turret would use.
This fact must be highlighted as well: the reason why we became a company that can produce results this fast and effectively is the fact that SYS offered its complete infrastructure to us, including purchasing, quality, material testing, production, and even delivery. We have experienced, for the lack of a better word, a 25-year experience, and we synthesized some of our corporate DNA from this experience.
We thank not only SYS but also HAVELSAN and UNIDEF for the contributions they made to UNIROBOTICS’ corporate structure and project management.
In addition, we made TARGAN a reality so quickly thanks to the contributions of our many stakeholders who supported us with their sub-systems in our project. I must underline the fact that our work would be much harder if not for the technology-oriented, product-creating SMEs of the Turkish defense and aerospace sector.
Working with HAVELSAN Is Just Like Setting Sail on the Seas of Knowledge and Experience
CANiK News: What were the contributions working together with HAVELSAN brought to UNIROBOTICS?
Ömür BAÇ: HAVELSAN has immense experience in software, project management, and more, as one of the oldest and most experienced companies in our country. We understood just how comprehensive their experience was after working together with them. After we signed the standard business protocols with HAVELSAN, we started feeling like we were a part of this family.
Yes, HAVELSAN is both our partner and customer. We are developing TARGAN to work seamlessly with ADVENT Combat Management System and then to deliver them to HAVELSAN. However, we saw just how serious HAVELSAN was and still is regarding creating an ecosystem and growing together with its stakeholders. In addition, we think HAVELSAN is satisfied with the cooperation we have and the work we have created. We constantly give them reports on the progress of the project and work together with them for the ADVENT integration, after all.
A Bright Future Awaits UNIROBOTICS
CANiK News: What is UNIROBOTICS planning for the future regarding RCWSs?
Ömür BAÇ: First, we have 4 certain orders for our TARGAN turret, to be used in two Offshore Patrol Vessels. The project’s scope may increase with optional orders, and if it does, the number of TARGAN turrets ordered will increase as well. In addition, there are many Turkish and foreign military projects that have the potential to use our turrets.
We are in the age of information and communication technologies, and this allows the much quicker derivation of designs made in the computer environment, as well as the testing of various iterations. As such, we took advantage of starting our work on a turret with much higher requirements than its counterparts, and we developed the TRAKON product family for land platforms. We are working on TRAKON Lite, which may be armed with weapons ranging from a 5.56 or a 7.62 mm machine gun to a 12.7 mm heavy machine gun for HAVELSAN’s lightweight unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), BARKAN, and TRAKON 30, armed with a 30 mm cannon, for its mediumweight cousin KAPGAN. UGVs see more widespread use across the globe, and we are proud to contribute to Digital Troops Concept together with HAVELSAN.
If required, we can easily produce a TARGAN equipped with the 30x113 mm cannon. As such, we believe that UNIROBOTICS has a bright future on RCWS for both naval and land-based platforms.
We would like to thank Ömür Baç, Founding Partner and General Manager of UNIROBOTICS, on behalf of our readers for taking the time to answer our questions, and for providing us with such valuable information.
We believe that UNIROBOTICS has a bright future on RCWS for both naval and land platforms.
UNIROBOTICS, a very young and dynamic SYS subsidiary, enjoys the limelight thanks to the success it achieves with its projects, its technological comprehension of its niche, and its product development concept. In the 6th issue of CANiK News, we have made the great strides UNIROBOTICS took in a very short period of time in our cover story, with a focus on the TARGAN remote-controlled stabilized weapon station. We hope CANiK readers will enjoy this informative review.
CANiK News: Mr. Baç, this interview will be on your efforts onRCWS, with a focus on TARGAN. Before we dive head-first into TARGAN, could you share some information on UNIROBOTICS for CANiK fans?
Ömür BAÇ: UNIROBOTICS is a subsidiary of Samsun Yurt Savunma (SYS). SYS could not afford to disregard the ever-increasing specialized needs for weapons systems while it developed to be a global actor with the firearms it designed and produced. UNIROBOTICS was founded to meet these needs, and to produce products and services with high technological added value on electromechanics, embedded systems, and mechatronics.
According to this main goal, one of the first projects of UNIROBOTICS was to make small arms intelligent. In addition, as a part of UNIROBOTICS’ weapon system integration efforts, the development of active-stabilized weapon mounts, remote-controlled weapon systems and weapon management systems were the other fields we focused.
CANiK News: How did you start developing TARGAN?
Ömür BAÇ: The task of developing remote-controlled weapon stations to be used in Offshore Patrol Vessels that are being constructed by ASFAT for the Turkish Naval Forces was given to us, as a subcontractor of HAVELSAN, on 1 October 2021. As such, our priority became the completely domestic and national development of electro-optical systems, motors, software, and all other components of the TARGAN remote-controlled weapon station armed with CANiK M2 heavy machine gun.
UNIROBOTICS Can Create Results Very Quickly
CANiK News: Which phase are you on regarding TARGAN’s development?
Ömür BAÇ: We have completed the design phase for the product, and we have now moved on to the production and qualification phases. We have a prototype and two serial-production model TARGAN turrets. All the required processes for the qualification of these turrets, especially live fire tests, are running smoothly. This will be followed by deliveries to the Turkish Naval Forces and then naval tests. After these tests are complete, we will be offering TARGAN as a product we have developed with our own efforts and produced with the highest domestic product ratio to the service of Turkish Naval Forces on a national platform.
TARGAN is a system designed for the Turkish Naval Forces Command, and this alone is very significant. The task of providing close defense to an Offshore Patrol Vessel requires harmonious operation with various systems in the Turkish Naval Forces, beyond just the engineering capabilities required for the development of an RCWS. It is not enough to create an electronic and mechanical system that can withstand the corrosion caused by sea conditions. We needed to face the challenges of running a multidisciplinary project at the highest level, including a fully harmonious operation with the combat management system, electromagnetic compliance, and the lowest possible radar signature. For this reason, we made a comprehensive effort for the first phase of TARGAN’s development, with a long-winded research and preparation process.
As UNIROBOTICS, our goal is to develop and produce all our systems in-house. As such, we need to advance many of our development processes simultaneously. For example, our department on electro-optical systems is advancing together with the subsystems and sub-software of the system that will be used. On the mechanical design front, the hardware to control these mechanics is done in-house as well, even including designing the circuit boards. In parallel, the software that controls this hardware and connects it to each other and to the user is developed, tested and refined.
Right now, we are at the most exciting phase of this project, as we can see the product we designed is working, and we are excited about it. However, this is also the hardest phase, because we are testing the complete system, along with its subsystems and components, one by one, again and again. We are qualifying the product, and after qualification, the Turkish Naval Forces will commence. the long and arduous acceptance tests for our product.
We also plan to hold a factory acceptance ceremony for TARGAN in the next few months.
It is important to be a participant in the defense and aerospace ecosystem.
CANiK News: One and a half years have passed since your contract was signed with HAVELSAN, on 1 October 2021. Considering UNIROBOTICS was founded in May 2020, how did you get to where you are now so quickly?
Ömür BAÇ: Even though our company was newly founded, it was not alone. Firstly, SYS was there for us regarding mechanical production. They shared all the experience and know-how they had accumulated over the years, not only in the production of firearms, but also in the production of precision parts for many defense and aerospace companies. As such, the UNIROBOTICS team was able to utilize extensive know-how on not just optimizing mechanical designs, but also the preparation processes for mass production.
SYS also assigned its qualified personnel along with many active workshops to our project. As such, UNIROBOTICS had the privilege to produce an RCWS in assembly lines and workshops that also produced the CANiK M2 QCB heavy machine gun the turret would use.
This fact must be highlighted as well: the reason why we became a company that can produce results this fast and effectively is the fact that SYS offered its complete infrastructure to us, including purchasing, quality, material testing, production, and even delivery. We have experienced, for the lack of a better word, a 25-year experience, and we synthesized some of our corporate DNA from this experience.
We thank not only SYS but also HAVELSAN and UNIDEF for the contributions they made to UNIROBOTICS’ corporate structure and project management.
In addition, we made TARGAN a reality so quickly thanks to the contributions of our many stakeholders who supported us with their sub-systems in our project. I must underline the fact that our work would be much harder if not for the technology-oriented, product-creating SMEs of the Turkish defense and aerospace sector.
Working with HAVELSAN Is Just Like Setting Sail on the Seas of Knowledge and Experience
CANiK News: What were the contributions working together with HAVELSAN brought to UNIROBOTICS?
Ömür BAÇ: HAVELSAN has immense experience in software, project management, and more, as one of the oldest and most experienced companies in our country. We understood just how comprehensive their experience was after working together with them. After we signed the standard business protocols with HAVELSAN, we started feeling like we were a part of this family.
Yes, HAVELSAN is both our partner and customer. We are developing TARGAN to work seamlessly with ADVENT Combat Management System and then to deliver them to HAVELSAN. However, we saw just how serious HAVELSAN was and still is regarding creating an ecosystem and growing together with its stakeholders. In addition, we think HAVELSAN is satisfied with the cooperation we have and the work we have created. We constantly give them reports on the progress of the project and work together with them for the ADVENT integration, after all.
A Bright Future Awaits UNIROBOTICS
CANiK News: What is UNIROBOTICS planning for the future regarding RCWSs?
Ömür BAÇ: First, we have 4 certain orders for our TARGAN turret, to be used in two Offshore Patrol Vessels. The project’s scope may increase with optional orders, and if it does, the number of TARGAN turrets ordered will increase as well. In addition, there are many Turkish and foreign military projects that have the potential to use our turrets.
We are in the age of information and communication technologies, and this allows the much quicker derivation of designs made in the computer environment, as well as the testing of various iterations. As such, we took advantage of starting our work on a turret with much higher requirements than its counterparts, and we developed the TRAKON product family for land platforms. We are working on TRAKON Lite, which may be armed with weapons ranging from a 5.56 or a 7.62 mm machine gun to a 12.7 mm heavy machine gun for HAVELSAN’s lightweight unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), BARKAN, and TRAKON 30, armed with a 30 mm cannon, for its mediumweight cousin KAPGAN. UGVs see more widespread use across the globe, and we are proud to contribute to Digital Troops Concept together with HAVELSAN.
If required, we can easily produce a TARGAN equipped with the 30x113 mm cannon. As such, we believe that UNIROBOTICS has a bright future on RCWS for both naval and land-based platforms.
We would like to thank Ömür Baç, Founding Partner and General Manager of UNIROBOTICS, on behalf of our readers for taking the time to answer our questions, and for providing us with such valuable information.
