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The medium-class level-one autonomous unmanned ground vehicle Barkan, which entered the inventory in 2023, will now move to serial production following a decision by Türkiye's Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB).
According to a statement from Havelsan, Barkan's operational capabilities have been enhanced based on feedback from field deployments since 2023. The vehicle, which has undergone numerous payload integrations, has achieved successful results in actual operational zones.
Following the serial production decision by SSB, Havelsan has decided to expand its project team to increase engineering capabilities. The company has also incorporated new qualified subcontractors into its ecosystem to respond quickly to the production demand.
Havelsan conducts platform development processes with subcontractor companies in its ecosystem, while handling software development processes with its expert engineers. The operational capabilities of Barkan, whose software capabilities have been upgraded, continue to improve with each passing day.
Havelsan is utilizing simulation technologies, one of its most important technological fields, in the development processes of Barkan. In addition to field trials, tests in simulation environments are making Barkan one of the most powerful and well-equipped vehicles in its class.
"We have transferred years of software and autonomy experience to Barkan," said Havelsan General Manager Mehmet Akif Nacar in the statement. "From day one, we foresaw that our competency set would make Barkan very competitive."
Nacar emphasized the support received from institutional partners during development: "The SSB and Land Forces Command particularly embraced this process and supported Barkan's development. Our stakeholder companies also worked extremely harmoniously."
"Barkan is very successful when operating on its own, but it has also been developed to work extremely compatibly with other unmanned aerial and ground systems when operating as a swarm. Every contribution to BARKAN's development also means a contribution to swarm capability," Nacar added.
Muhittin Solmaz, Havelsan deputy general manager for Simulation, Autonomous and Platform Management Technologies, noted that their approach went beyond merely developing an unmanned ground vehicle.
"From day one, we emphasized swarm capability," Solmaz stated. "At the end of this intense, exhausting journey filled with passion to serve our country, having the confidence in Barkan crowned with a serial production decision has been a great motivation for our team."
Veysel Ataoglu, Havelsan product development and ELD director, emphasized the value of field collaboration with security forces during development.
"In this context, I would like to thank my team members, our security forces with whom we worked together in the field, the SSB personnel who meticulously followed every development process, and the personnel of our subcontractor companies. This success is also their success," Ataoglu concluded.
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