Gyrocopters for the Turkish Gendarmerie

Our friend Tolga Özbek brought some surprising news on 31 December 2022: the Turkish Gendarmerie Aviation Directorate (Türk Jandarma Havacılık Başkanlığı) ordered three AutoGyro Cavalon, with an option of an additional five aircraft.

The Cavalons will serve in the İnsanlı Keşif Uçağı (İKU - Manned Reconnaissance Aircraft) role and will therefore be equipped with a camera system (most probably adhering to the Cavalon Sentinel that is equipped with the UKRSPECSYSTEMS FLOR camera). Traffic control and public order flights will be the main task.

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced that this deal had been in the works for two-and-a-half years. The Cavalons will be powered by a Rotax 145hp engine (probably based on the Rotax 914 UL), turbocharged fuel injected engine that will allow for a maximum speed of 165km/h and will give the aircraft up to six flight hours. The aircraft will even be fitted with an autopilot system and with significantly lower operational costs will be augmenting the much more expensive platforms that are also operating in this role, like the Beech 350ISR, the S-70A Black Hawk and the Mi-17-1V Hip. According to the report, the delivery of the first batch of three aircraft should take place any day now.

The Autogyro Cavalon is a German autogyro, designed and produced by AutoGyro GmbH of Hildesheim. It was introduced at the 2011 Aero show in Friedrichshafen. The aircraft is supplied as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft. The Cavalon is a two-seats-in-side-by-side configuration development of the tandem-seating AutoGyro Calidus. It features a single main rotor, an enclosed cockpit with a complete aerodynamic cockpit fairing, tricycle landing gear with wheel pants and an engine in pusher configuration.

Photo via AutoGyro GmbH