Erdogan's son-in-law makes Turkey a world leader in military drones - Bloomberg

Selçuk Bayraktar, a Turkish engineer and entrepreneur, CTO and co-owner of Baykar, has effectively made Turkey the world leader in military drones. Recently, the company announced that it is preparing to fly the Bayraktar TB3 strike UAV, which can take off and land on ships with a short runway.

MIT graduate Selçuk Bayraktar is also the son-in-law of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Bloomberg writes about this.

"In recent years, Baykar has become a key part of Erdogan's efforts to build a self-sufficient defense industry, producing products ranging from armed drones to fighter jets and warships. All of these are designed to support his increasingly aggressive foreign policy in a region mired in conflict. But since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, foreign sales of UAVs have also steadily increased, giving Turkey greater political influence far beyond the Middle East," the article says.

In a commentary to the publication, Baykar said that the company will soon begin mass production of at least one of the two advanced drones that will take off from the newly built Turkish mini-aircraft carrier TCG Anadolu.

At the same time, Baykar is looking to expand its market share from Africa to Europe and Asia with its existing TB2 and Akinci unmanned combat vehicles, as well as the recently developed TB3 and Kizielma.

He stated that the new drones "will revolutionize Turkey's military influence from the Black Sea and the Caucasus to the eastern Mediterranean and the shores of North Africa." They "will allow Turkey to monitor and detect attacks on continents by increasing their flight time and range."

According to the article, Turkey's use of UAVs emphasizes the changing face of warfare in one of the world's most unstable regions. For example, the drones have turned the tide of Ankara's long-running struggle against the Kurdistan Workers' Party in the southeast of the country, northern Iraq and Syria. Relatively cheap to manufacture and use, the drones have in recent years helped turn conflicts in far-flung places like Azerbaijan and Libya in favor of Turkey's allies.

Over the past two decades, the company has made 82% of its profits from exports, Bayraktar said, adding that production capacity has increased by 50% in the past year.

As OBOZREVATEL reported, a service center for the repair and maintenance of Turkish Bayraktar UAVs will appear in Ukraine. The manufacturer of these drones, BAYKAR MAKINA, and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine signed an agreement on the construction of the center.

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