Turkish companies FNSS Savunma Sistemleri and Roketsan have teamed up to present an FNSS Kaplan Hybrid Carrier Platform equipped with the Roketsan Alka Directed Energy Weapon System (DEWS) at the IDEF 2025 defence exhibition, held in Istanbul from 22 to 27 July.
FNSS’ development of a hybrid powerpack for tracked armoured platforms with gross vehicle weights of up to 20 tons began in 2021, with a Kaplan Hybrid technology demonstrator prototype exhibited at IDEF in 2023. The system has been developed as a unique hybrid powerpack solution that can be integrated into potential future tracked vehicles within the FNSS product range as well as other tracked vehicle families in need of modernisation and life extension programmes. Having completed mobility and verification tests, the Kaplan Hybrid is now ready to meet operational needs with various mission equipment in its combat configuration.
The Alka DEWS, meanwhile, has been developed as a two-layered, very-close-in hybrid air defence system that enables the interception of asymmetric drone threats using an electromagnetic jammer (soft kill) and the destruction of them with a laser weapon (hard kill). As well as intercepting and eliminating threats such as jam-resistant fixed- and rotary-wing mini/micro unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), loitering munitions and swarming UAVs, the Alka DEWS can also be used to destroy roadside bombs and other improvised explosive devices as well as unexploded ordnance.
The Kaplan Hybrid Carrier Platform’s high-kilowatt diesel generator unit, which provides the electrical power required for the vehicle’s electric drive system, also provides the high-voltage electrical power required by next-generation weapons like the Alka DEWS without the need to transport an additional power unit.
FNSS states of the Kaplan Hybrid Carrier Platform, “The silent driving extended silent tracking, and the ability to add next-generation weapon systems with high energy requirements, enabling the vehicle’s use in combat and reconnaissance scenarios, combined with the future-proof Roketsan Alka system, have become an effective directed energy weapon system platform.”
