How PKK/YPG terrorist group adopts paramotors for cross-border attacks?
A collage of paramotors used by the PKK/YPG.
The PKK/YPG, designated as a terrorist organization by Türkiye and many other countries, has increasingly incorporated paramotors into its terrorist attacks.
Initially designed for recreational flights, these motorized paragliders are used by the organization to cross the border and carry out terrorist attacks, especially in difficult terrains such as those found in northern Syria and along the Turkish border.
The terrorist organization PKK/YPG, which has become almost unable to carry out terrorist attacks in Türkiye, is using paramotors to gain an advantage in mobility in terrorist activities and to facilitate the infiltration into Türkiye from its camps in Iraq and under the control of the SDF – its Syrian branch.
One of the primary uses of paramotors by the PKK/YPG is for surveillance and reconnaissance missions. From the air, these devices allow the group to monitor Turkish military movements and fortifications, gather intelligence, and map out potential targets without detection.
The paramotors’ ability to operate at low altitudes and speeds makes them less likely to be spotted by radars, providing a significant advantage to terrorist organizations.
Terrorist organizations PKK/YPG might also utilized paramotors to smuggle weapons, ammunition, and supplies across borders.
How they use paramotors?
The terrorist organization PKK/YPG’s unit associated with “paramotor” (i.e. paraglider) use, the so-called Dedal Air Defense Forces is the same reportedly responsible for dropping improvised grenades from paramotor in Gara, northern Iraq in 2021.
The terrorist organization used Russian 40mm VOG-25P (BOГ-25П), a High-Explosive (HE), launcher-fired, low-velocity, pre-rifled, caseless, airburst, Anti-Personnel (AP), bounding fragmentation, projected grenade employing the VMG-P Point-Detonating Self-Destruct (PDSD) fuze, adopted in 1974.
PKK/YPG terrorist organization used paramotors in their attack against the Tece Police Station in Mezitli district on Sept. 26, 2022. Parts of a paramotor believed to have been used by members of the terrorist organization were seized during a search in the Coplu neighborhood of Tarsus.
Paramotor departed from the Manbij region in northern Syria, which is being occupied by the terrorist organization YPG/PKK.
It was determined that 4 PKK terrorists, who were neutralized during operations in Iskenderun and Amanos Mountains, took off from Manbij region of Syria on Sept. 28 and Oct. 10, 2022, with two paramotors and crossed to the Turkish side to participate in terrorist activities.
Turkish security forces neutralized PKK/YPG terrorists who were determined to have taken off from the Manbij region of Syria with two paramotors and landed in the Amanos Mountains.
During the operation conducted in Hakurk, a paramotor used by the terrorist organization YPG/PKK to attack base areas was found.
The Turkish Ministry of National Defense said: “Among the captured materials is a paramotor used by the terrorist organization to attack base areas.”
It was evaluated that the paramotor captured in the operation could be used in manned or unmanned attacks in night conditions in winter, and it was determined that terrorists received training.
Malatya Security Directorate teams detained a PKK/YPG terrorist identified as M.A., who crossed into Türkiye from Syria, and three suspects involved in recruitment activities for the terrorist organization, in an operation in Akçadağ district on Nov. 5, 2020.
It was determined that M.A., who was captured in Türkiye, was a so-called special forces member of the terrorist organization PKK/YPG in which he had been active for five years and was sent to Türkiye for assassinations and bomb attacks.
He also said during his interrogation that he had received training on using sniper rifles, preparing improvised explosive devices, assassination and sabotage, and paramotor training, which the organization had recently used to cross Türkiye.
Former Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu also made a statement about PKK/YPG’s usage of paramotors in 2021: “The danger is not over. We pushed the PKK out of our borders, but the danger is not over. Why? We pushed them out of our borders, but they are with those who embrace them. The danger continues. If we tell how terrorist organizations are protected in Europe, how they provide paramotor, drone and aviation training, how they use new technology weapons, our nation would curse them morning and night.”
Captured terrorist explains how they use paramotors
A captured PKK/YPG terrorist named Celik gave information about the terrorist organization PK/YPG’s usage of paramotors. He was captured after he came to Türkiye via paramotor through Syria.
The terrorist said that he received 10 days of paramotor training in Syria by the SDF/YPG/PKK terrorist organization and that the engine parts of the vehicles came from Europe unassembled. Celik said that these parts were assembled in the Mehlebiye industrial zone in Hasakah, Syria.
This paramotor, which normally has a 40-liter fuel tank, can fly up to 150 kilometers (93.2 miles), but the capacity of the fuel tank can be increased to 70 liters in total, reaching a range of 240 kilometers. With Aydın and Harun, we loaded the paramotor we would use for the crossing onto a truck and set off from Hasakah to Manbij. On Sept. 28, 2020, Aydin and Harun took off from Manbij on the paramotor with weapons and living supplies without any problems. I went back to the camp in Hasakah. A week later, we were going to pass through, but paramotor training was suspended because of reconnaissance flights by Turkish security forces’ drones. On Oct.9, Zinar and I took off from Manbij. With the map program installed on his mobile phone, we flew over Manbij, Jarabulus and Kilis, away from the border outposts, and landed from Tahtakopru Dam to the empty area on the mountain peak where Ziyarettepe is located in the Amanos Mountains region. Then we met with Aydin and Harun.
Statements from terrorists
Paramotor also used in interior ministry attack
A paramotor was found in Kayseri’s Develi district, where two PKK/YPG terrorists who carried out a bomb attack in front of the entrance gate of the Turkish Ministry of Interior General Directorate of Security in Ankara last year hijacked the vehicle they used in the attack and killed a veterinary technician.
About seven months after the incident, citizens looking for mushrooms in the mountain in Tomarza district, Imamkulu neighborhood found a paramotor among the bushes.
Gendarmerie teams were dispatched to the scene after the incident. The teams arriving at the scene started a large-scale investigation in the area.
The paramotor, which was broken into pieces, was taken to the Provincial Gendarmerie Command for examination.
Special operation police officers started to work in the area where the parts of the paramotor were found.
