Redesigning fixed-wing loitering munition as solar supported by using reverse engineering method

Conventional warfare has been transformed into hybrid warfare or asymmetric threat in recent decades. Due to this reason, the world's armed forces are constantly taking innovative steps to improve their defense technologies. Thanks to this technological development, armed forces all over the world are begun to equip with a variety of UAVs in accordance with their military mission. One of these UAVs, supplanted in army inventories, loitering munitions, also known as kamikaze drones, which create an explosive effect on the target by hitting the in defilade position, are autonomous weapon systems that operate on the "search-find-destroy" principle. In this thesis, first the history of solar-powered manned/unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) all over the world, , the development process of UAV technology in Turkey and classification of UAVs and the place of loitering munitions will be explained in details. Then, one of the fixed-wing loitering munitions, ALPAGU which are effectively used in today's battlefields will be taken on board and its working principles, features and specifications will be explained. Subsequently, taking into account the irradiance values of the Şırnak province, it will be calculated whether the flight duration of 15 minutes can be extended by reverse engineering method with the additional solar support components. Whether its cost-efficient or not, this study is the first of its kind to apply a solar support system to a loitering munition in order to extend its flight endurance by harnessing solar energy. Finally, as a result of the calculations made on regarding the solar support components applied to the ALPAGU loitering munition, it will be theoretically proven that the time in the air can be extended by 11.2%, in numerical terms, 1.76 minutes (105.6 seconds). Keywords: Loitering Munitions, Kamikaze Drones, Suicide Drones, Solar Cells, Solar Energy, Solar Supported, UAVs, MPPT, LiHV Batteries