ACMI (Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation) is an external pod integrated into jet fighter aircraft.

So called “Dogfight” is the struggle of the planes in the air to take the most precise position to engage with each other.

The ACMI pod is a very important instrument for pilot training on “how to do these maneuvers most effectively” with its precise positioning capabilities.

The pod, which is integrated with the electronic systems in the aircraft, is used not only for maneuvering but also for the control of the loaded weapons and ammunition in the aircraft. (Was it the correct engagement, was the ammunition fired on time or was the target been hit?).

The system allows all these to be monitored in real time from the ground and from the records after the training is completed, and the correct maneuvers or mistakes can be seen.

In this way, it also contributes to the determination of a style of operation.

In Konya, 3rd Main Jet Base, ACMI is being used for many years.

Turkey’s leading defense industry power SDT Space and Defense Technologies / Aerospace has succeeded to produce ACMI in Turkey with mostly local capacities.

Two countries currently produce this system in the world: USA and Israel.

SDT General Manager Ömer Korkut argues that their product is better because they use new technology.

MİLDATA General Manager Mahmut Bölükbaş interviewed with Mr. Korkut (on behalf of www.savunmasanayi.org) on this system:

Mahmut Bölükbaş: Is the system completely domestic and national? Did you have any contact with the Turkish Air Force during the development of the system? What kind of contributions did they make?

Ömer Korkut (SDT General Manager): Of course, we also prioritized localization in prototype production, but some of the ready-to-use products were also used on the shelf and a prototype has now emerged. In the mass production phase, we will further increase localization and increase the use of parts that are actually designed and produced by SDT rather than imported products.

Mahmut Bölükbaş: From what you have told, we can understand that ACMI is a constantly developing system. What kind of cooperation are you conducting with the Turkish Air Force within the scope of this constantly evolving system?

Ömer Korkut (SDT General Manager): Since the start of the project in 2014, we have been in direct contact with the Turkish Air Force during the development, prototype development, integration and field trials of the project. The pod has been successfully used, tried and tested by the Turkish Air Force. Not only the Turkish Air Force, but also the Royal Jordanian Air Force used the pods, and they saw how effective they were in the field. So now we plan and hope to realize the mass production project soon. We plan to use feedbacks from Turkish Air Force experiences and further improve the pod. Furthermore, the pod is now being used at F-16 fighters externally. But we SDT expect and hope to take part in new projects in Turkey, using our pod -embedded or external- with new platforms.

Mahmut Bölükbaş: Mr.Korkut, have you cooperated with other Turkish national firms while developing ACMI? What kind of integration of the ACMI, do you plan, into newly developed/being developed rotary wing, manned, unmanned aviation projects?

Ömer Korkut (SDT General Manager): Actually it is a very good question. SDT invested heavily in the development of ACMI, but TUSAŞ (Turkish Aerospace Industry) has also contribution on this project. Therefore, with TUSAŞ; As you know, TUSAŞ is the biggest provider of air platforms, manned or unmanned aerial platforms in our defense industry, we are currently negotiating with TUSAŞ the possibility of integration of the ACMI externally or embedded into those platforms. We hope to take part in these projects.

Mahmut Bölükbaş: Would you please compare the ACMI with its foreign counterparts?

Ömer Korkut (SDT General Manager): Of course. There are only two products as ACM counterpart outside Turkey. One of them is American and the other is Israeli-made, but I wouldn’t say their names. ACMI has an advantage over these products: These products were developed with older technologies and some of these products were already used in our Turkish Armed Forces before ACMI. Therefore, within the scope of this project, especially during our cooperation with the Turkish Air Force, we focused our efforts on providing more competent features from existing systems. I can say this; ACMI is technologically ahead of the existing systems, and I can say that it is more developed with regard to the ability to serve more platforms at the same time, and the range. In terms of technology, it is a system that is more advanced than existing systems.

Mahmut Bölükbaş: What is the export strategy of the ACMI system? Which countries are interested in the ACMI system? Are there any country /countries in your projection, concentration point? How do you observe its success in this sense?

Ömer Korkut (SDT General Manager): Actually, we are involved in various activities to export the system from the prototype development process and we continue such efforts abroad. I don’t mind to name it. One of them is the Republic of Korea – a country that we have actively brought the negotiations to a certain point but faced different obstacles regarding the export of ACMI pod. But the problem we encountered here is that the platforms belong to another country and they do not approve or certify the pod because they have their own similar, equivalent products – they see our pod as a competitor. The platform owner countries prevented them in order to position their own products even though our pod was technologically higher. But in Korea, we actually made another export while we were continuing to export the ACMI pod. Our data-link capability in the ACMI pod, somehow, Korea’s 5th generation fighter aircraft – they also have a KFX project- we exported independently from offset. We won the international tender and successfully completed the project. This is actually a concrete export success that shows how high an export potential ACMI has both in terms of its stand-alone and components. The ACMI pod is being externally used regardless of platform- – because It is currently used on our F-16s as well – we are continuing the export negotiations friendly countries to position the ACMI pod regardless of the platform and we see that the potential is quite high.