Selcuk Bayraktar, chief technology officer of Turkey’s drone powerhouse Baykar, said on Thursday that Turkish companies now control 65 percent of the worldwide market for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
Baykar commands nearly 60 percent of the market all by itself.
Bayraktar credited cooperation between Baykar and the Turkish government for the company’s rapid rise to dominance of UAV technology. Selcuk Bayraktar happens to be married to the daughter of Turkey’s authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“In 2004, Baykar developed Turkey’s first robotic guidance system and the first mini-UAV when UAVs were not yet known in the world,” he recalled.
More breakthroughs followed, including an air combat UAV called the Kizilelma, which Baykar delivered to the Turkish government a year ahead of schedule in 2022, and the famous Bayraktar TB series of ground attack drones, which became one of the hottest arms products in the world after bravura performances in the Armenia-Azerbaijan and Russia-Ukraine conflicts.
Bayraktar drones were so devastating in the hands of Ukraine’s defenders that Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to pressure Turkey into banning sales of the platform to Ukraine. Erdogan refused Putin’s demands.
The Bayraktar TB-2 is the system that set the world, and many a Russian tank, on fire. At a drone industry event in Istanbul on Thursday, Selcuk Bayraktar said the TB-3 will be equally revolutionary, boasting the ability to take off and land from ships with short runways.
Last month, a TB-3 successfully performed both landings and takeoffs from TCG Anadolu, Turkey’s top-of-the-line drone carrier warship. Selcuk Bayraktar commemorated the achievements on social media:
“The Bayraktar TB3 became the first combat UAV platform in the world that can take off and land from short-runway ships. The first trials were conducted last month. The Bayraktar TB3 has also started mass production,” he said on Thursday.
Pakistan and Bangladesh are among the latest customers for Bayraktar TB2 drones, a development that made rival India very nervous. The Indian military has lately been warning that it will immediately shoot down any Bangladeshi TB2s that drift over the border.
At the end of November, the Sudanese army announced it had deployed TB2 drones against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, its opponent in the brutal Sudanese civil war.
Another product spotlighted at the Istanbul event was the Bayraktar Akinci, a long-range, high-endurance UAV that can carry enough ordnance to engage ground installations and ships at sea. Guided by satellite navigation, the Akinci can remain airborne for up to 24 hours at a stretch.
The Akinci was originally developed for the Turkish military, but Baykar now exports it to customers in ten countries, including Pakistan and Morocco. Morocco’s first delivery of Akinci drones and compatible munitions is expected in February.
“Baykar has prepared for the races of tomorrow, not yesterday’s or today’s,” he said, boasting that his company’s philosophy helped it grow to three times the size of its nearest American competitor.
On Wednesday, Baykar announced that TB2 drones have accumulated over one million hours in flight, becoming the first Turkish-built combat aircraft to surpass that milestone.
