Turkish counter-drone systems prove mettle at NATO Ankara Summit

Türkiye's domestically developed counter-drone systems demonstrated their capabilities in securing airspace during the recent NATO Summit in Ankara, where they were used by security forces as key protective tools.

Counter-drone measures have become a critical element of modern warfare in recent years and were among the important agenda items at the summit.

NATO leaders announced the Drone Edge initiative, a joint defense effort designed to detect, identify and neutralize unmanned aerial threats.

NATO allies are expected to invest over $40 billion in counter-drone capabilities over the next five years to rapidly deploy comprehensive solutions such as detection radars, electro-optical sensors, electronic jamming, GPS spoofing and kinetic destruction systems.

Counter-drone technologies are generally divided into passive and active neutralization measures, also known as soft-kill and hard-kill systems, depending on their effect on the target.

Türkiye's defense sector, under the coordination of the Turkish Defense Industries Agency (SSB), has developed domestic solutions across these categories. These systems have already been made available to domestic security forces and have achieved notable export success.

Bogazici Defense Technologies provided layered capabilities at the Ankara summit, including radar, electro-optical sensors and coordinate spoofing, while its state-of-the-art Ilter family of systems was deployed at critical locations to provide continuous protection against potential unmanned aerial threats.

The Ilter J400 provided long-range electronic jamming, while the Ilter HSPAR, or Hybrid Active Scanned Phased Array Radar, offered electro-optical tracking supported by artificial intelligence.

The Ilter MRKAS, recently delivered to the Turkish Gendarmerie General Command, stood out as one of Türkiye's most effective drone interdiction systems at the event.

The Ilter family of products played a key role in safeguarding the summit's airspace by integrating AI-powered target detection, tracking and electronic neutralization under a single command-and-control architecture.

The deployed systems showed high performance during the event and completed their missions without failure, helping protect heads of state and government attending the NATO summit.