During his visit to Saudi Arabia, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the signing of various agreements in the fields of energy, investment, media and defense with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In total, the amount of these agreements is estimated at more than 50 billion dollars, according to state media. Two arms contracts have been signed with the Turkish company Baykar. This company is co-managed by a son-in-law of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Saudi Arabia “will acquire drones with the aim of strengthening the readiness of the kingdom’s armed forces and its defense and manufacturing capabilities,” Saudi Defense Minister Khaled bin Salman said.
An unmanned stealth plane
The amount of the deals and the model of the drones the kingdom plans to buy were not disclosed, but an Arab diplomat stationed in Riyadh, speaking on condition of anonymity, discussed the TB2 model. In a tweet, Baykar also announced a contract on the Akinci model.
With the war in Ukraine, this tactical drone has become a star of the Turkish defense industry. Since then, it has been purchased by a dozen armies around the world, according to the Military Balance of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). In 2022, in an interview with the Ukrainian Come Back Alive Foundationthe general manager of the manufacturer Baykar claimed to have signed contracts “with 22 different countries”.
Baykar increased its design capacity to 20 units per month to fulfill an order book that was now complete for the next three years. Last year, Haluk Bayraktar also announced the establishment of a factory in Ukraine.
Baykar produces two types of drones: the TB2 and the Akinci. He is also working on a more impressive model, called the Kizilelma (red apple). It is an unmanned supersonic stealth fighter aircraft. A demonstrator was tested last December.
Source: BFM TV
