Malaysia is enhancing its maritime surveillance capabilities in the South China Sea by acquiring Turkish-made Anka-S uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV), a move aligned with efforts to strengthen the country’s defense preparedness.
The three drones, produced by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), are expected to begin arriving in 2026, marking a milestone in Malaysia’s “Fourth Dimension” defense modernization. With a 30-hour endurance and satellite command-and-control capability, the UAVs will be based at Labuan Air Base and will enable persistent maritime surveillance of Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Malaysian Deputy Defence Minister Adly Zahari told parliament that the Royal Malaysian Air Force initially will operate the drones as part of a procurement aligned with the Future Forces Development Phase from 2026-30.
“Considering the operational endurance of the Anka-S UAVs, the asset certainly does have potential to help ASEAN [the Association of Southeast Asian Nations] in countering shared threats such as maritime piracy and terrorism, as well as IUU [illegal, unreported and unregulated] fishing,” Thomas Lim, a senior analyst at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told FORUM.
The deployment in the South China Sea “will help Malaysia maintain consistent overwatch of its own oil and gas operations inside Malaysia’s EEZ, raising its overall domain awareness,” Lim said.
“These drones excel at long-range, long-endurance patrolling … spotting and identifying suspicious activity among small boats, whether it is smuggling, piracy or militant activity,” David Hambling, author of “Swarm Troopers: How Small Drones Will Conquer the World,” told FORUM.
In recent years, Malaysia has faced growing gray-zone threats in the resource-rich sea, a global trade route, including frequent incursions by China’s maritime militia, coast guard and survey vessels near offshore energy sites. Monitoring and documenting such disruptive activities for diplomatic or legal purposes could be a strategic game changer, Hambling noted.
“Provocations often rely on deniability; a highly capable sensor platform will lay bare gray-zone activities and prevent denials,” he said, adding that the drones “will certainly be useful in boosting Malaysia’s ability to spot and track foreign naval vessels over a wide area.”
The Anka-S deal, which includes joint research and technology sharing, is part of a growing bilateral defense industrial partnership across sectors. In July 2025, Malaysia’s Coalition of Defence Industry signed a memorandum of understanding with the Turkish Defense and Aerospace Industry Manufacturers Association (SASAD) at the International Defence Industry Fair in Istanbul, the Malaysian publication BusinessToday reported.
The agreement is “a launchpad for joint innovation and global competitiveness,” SASAD Chairman Osman Okyay said at the signing, attended by Malaysian Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.
Adly noted that Malaysian academic and government partners are collaborating on UAV development to cultivate a domestic drone ecosystem capable of supporting future defense requirements, The Star news site reported.
