Barkan (Barkan I / II)

Launching a GST Harpia 350 loitering munition from its deck in November 2023, the Barkan showed what a 400 kg ground robot can add to a Turkish infantry unit – four months after it entered Turkish Armed Forces service in July 2023.

Built by Havelsan of Ankara, owned by the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation, the medium UGV weighs about 400 kg (sources give 380 to 400 kg; the Kure encyclopaedia around 500 kg), carries 200 kg, measures 140 by 90 by 110 cm, drives at 13 km/h and runs for 3 h according to GBP (Quantum3D says 8 h). The drive is electric; sources disagree on whether the base is a 4x4 wheeled or a tracked layout.

Control is remote with partial autonomy, and Havelsan is working towards swarming. The armed configuration mounts Aselsan's SARP-L remote weapon station with a 7.62 mm machine gun and the loitering-munition launcher, with EO/IR cameras for observation. The heavier Barkan-2 weighs 750 kg empty, carries 400 kg and runs 5 h, and a Barkan 3 has been announced.

First shown in 2021 in a Turkish Army competition with four contenders, the vehicle is priced on request and quantities are undisclosed. Germany's GEREON RCS (450 kg) and Ukraine's TerMIT occupy the same weight class; Havelsan's heavy follow-on is the 8x8 havelsan-kapgan.