The agreements signed between Turkey and Saudi Arabia include two deals with Baykar, a company specializing in tactical drones. It would be the “largest arms and aviation export contract in the history of the Turkish Republic”.
During his visit to Saudi Arabia, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the signing of several agreements in the areas of energy, investment, media and defense together with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. According to state media, the total value of these agreements is estimated at more than 50 billion dollars. Two arms contracts were signed with the Turkish company Baykar. This company is run by a son-in-law of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In a tweet, Baykar CEO Haluk Bayraktar spoke of the “largest defense and aerospace export order in the history of the Turkish Republic” without also revealing the amount.
Saudi Arabia “will acquire drones to bolster the readiness of the kingdom’s armed forces, as well as its defense and manufacturing capabilities,” Saudi Defense Minister Khaled bin Salman said.
An unmanned stealth aircraft
The size of the deals and the model of the drones the kingdom plans to buy were not disclosed, but an Arab diplomat based in Riyadh spoke on condition of anonymity of the TB2 model. In a tweet, Baykar also announced a contract for the Akinci model.
With the war in Ukraine, this tactical drone became a star of Turkey’s defense industry. It has since been purchased by a dozen armies around the world, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Military Balance. In the year 2022, in an interview with the Ukrainian Come Back Alive FoundationThe managing director of the manufacturer Baykar stated that he had concluded contracts “with 22 different countries”.
Baykar increased its design capacity to 20 units per month to meet a now full backlog for the next three years. Last year, Haluk Bayraktar also announced the establishment of a factory in Ukraine.
“We consider Ukraine to be our strategic partner. We already have a technical engineering team supporting Ukraine. But we also want to turn Ukraine into a manufacturing base,” said the manager, adding that the Ukrainian site could start production at the end of 2023.
Baykar produces two types of drones: the TB2 and the Akinci. He is also working on a more impressive model called Kizilelma (Red Apple). It is an unmanned supersonic stealth fighter aircraft. A demonstrator was tested last December.