STM Kargu

STM Kargu is a small portable quadrotor loitering munition produced in Turkey by STM (Turkish: Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik ve Ticaret A.Ş.) that has been designed for asymmetric warfare or counter-insurgency.

In Turkish, Kargu means "mountain observation tower" because these drones were initially designed as an airborne sentry or surveillance tool.

The Kargu can be carried by a single personnel in both autonomous and manual modes. KARGU can be effectively used against static or moving targets through its real-time image processing capabilities and machine learning algorithms embedded on the platform. The system consists of the rotary wing attack drone and ground control unit.

According to STM CEO Murat Ikinci, Kargu has a facial recognition system, suggesting it can seek out specific individuals. Its swarms are too numerous to be tackled by advanced air defense systems and can destroy a large number of targets very rapidly.

The company's YouTube channel features a video of several Kargu 2 drones operating in formation, demonstrating the ability of Kargu 2 to operate in a drone swarm. The capability of this swarm to autonomously identify, select and coordinate attacks on a target has, however, never been demonstrated by STM in reality.

Other capabilities includes:

Kargu was used in Syria and Libya by the Turkish Armed Forces. It was also reportedly used by Azerbaijan during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, though it hasn't been verified by the Azerbaijani authorities yet.

In 2020 a Kargu 2 Drone hunted down and attacked LNA forces in Libya, according to a report from the UN Security Council’s Panel of Experts on Libya, published in March 2021.