Turkish engine producer Erin Motor introduced its newly developed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) engines at the country’s largest technology and aviation event, Teknofest, being held this year in Istanbul.

The firm showcased its two types of UAV engines, 6-hp and 11-hp, which can be used in observer drones. The engines are particularly well suited for vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) UAVs, Ersin Şahin, Erin Motor general manager, told Anadolu Agency (AA).

At this year's Teknofest, many aviation companies introduced VTOL UAVs, including the country's leading defense firm Baykar, he said.

Previously, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) engine making subsidiary Tusaş Engine Industries (TEI) was the only Turkish firm that could produce engines for UAVs, he recalled.

Both engines can be used in UAVs with wingspans of up to five meters (16.4 feet), and the two options allow the company to produce for a wide range of drones and related payloads.

He said one engine is a carburetor engine and the other is electronically controlled.

"Electronically controlled engines offer more precise control," he added.

Potential customers

Şahin said the company is targeting both domestic and foreign markets and that permission has been obtained to export the engines.

Baykar tested Erin Motor's UAV engine, and his firm hopes that Baykar will choose it for its new VTOL UAVs, he said.

"Obviously, (Baykar's Chief Technology Officer) Selçuk Bayraktar and (CEO) Haluk Bayraktar encouraged and directed us toward this work," he highlighted.

"We entered this field with the question: ‘Why are you not doing this job?" he added.

Cost advantage

If domestic companies choose Erin Motor's engines, they will support domestic engineering and contribute to reducing the country's current account deficit, Şahin said.

He also said the engine offers a cost advantage against its foreign equivalents of up to 35%.

In the defense industry, it is more important not to be dependent on imports than it is to worry about price advantage, he said. Şahin went on to add that up to 90% of the company's engine components are locally sourced but that the firm is targeting 100%.

"We produce the most critical parts of the engine in Turkey. We can enter mass production immediately upon demand," he said.

Natural gas-powered engine

The firm also introduced another product, a natural gas-powered single-cylinder engine that was designed specifically for power generators, Şahin said.

The engine was also designed and produced domestically by the firm's research and development team, he said.

He asserted that there are no domestic equivalent products in Turkey and no similar engines in the world.