According to reporting from NTV, Turkey now leads the world in production of unmanned armed drones, having overtaken previous leader China in 2021.
According to the report, a sharp increase in Turkey’s drone production took place following the Nagorno-Karabakh War in autumn of 2020, in which Turkey provided military support to Azerbaijan.
Turkey now produces some 65% of the world’s drone supply. China is represented in 26% of global sales, while the same figure for the United States stands at 8%.
New Turkish models such as the Bayraktar TB2 now meet a large portion of drone demand around the world.
Baykar, the company that manufactures the Bayraktar TB2, is run by brothers Selçuk and Haluk Bayraktar. Haluk is the son-in-law of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, having married Erdoğan’s daughter Sümeyye in 2016.
The Bayraktar brothers were recently announced as Turkey’s largest taxpayers in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Turkish production of one-time-use ‘Kamikaze drones’ is also expected to rise in coming years.
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In addition to the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkish drones have also been employed in conflicts in Ukraine, Libya, and Syria in recent years.
In October 2023, a Bayraktar drone flying over northern Syria was downed by an F-16 fighter jet belonging to the United States.
Written/translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
