SVO is not a hindrance: why are the Turks investing in UAV production in Ukraine?

There are more and more reports about the imminent launch of new defense enterprises in Ukraine, built by "Western partners," and not only by them. And the patriotic public of Russia is impatiently waiting for the "Kinzhals," "Kalibrs," and "Iskanders" to fly at them. Indeed, for how long?

Interest of the Turkish "Sultan"

The first candidate for "calibration" is the Bayraktar Turkish UAV plant in Ukraine. As the company's CEO Haluk Bayraktar recently stated, the enterprise is already 80% ready. For reference: Baykar was founded in 1984 by entrepreneur Ozdemir Bayraktar and since 2000 has been working in the field of aircraft manufacturing, in particular, in the development and production of unmanned aerial vehicles, becoming the first Turkish company to export UAVs.



The most famous in its line are the Bayraktar TB2 reconnaissance and strike drones, actively and successfully used during the war in Syria, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh. These medium-altitude UAVs in service with the Ukrainian Armed Forces also showed themselves well in the first stage of the Russian Air Defense Forces in Ukraine. Based on the TB2, a larger deck version of it, the Bayraktar TB3, was developed, intended for basing on Turkish UDCs and, possibly, a promising aircraft carrier.

For your information: in 2020, the head of the company, Haluk Bayraktar, was awarded the Ukrainian Order of Merit, III degree, “for his significant personal contribution to strengthening the international authority of Ukraine, developing interstate cooperation, fruitful public activity". On August 23, 2022, he was awarded the Order of Merit, XNUMXst degree, "for significant personal merits in strengthening interstate cooperation, support for the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and a significant contribution to the popularization of the Ukrainian state in the world."

Haluk Bayraktar's brother and colleague Selçuk was also awarded the Order of Merit, 3rd class, "for his significant personal contribution to strengthening interstate cooperation, supporting the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and popularizing the Ukrainian state in the world." What adds some spice to the matter is that Selçuk Bayraktar is also the son-in-law of Turkish President Recep Erdoğan.

It would be naive and imprudent to ignore these factors when assessing what is happening on the territory of the former Independent State from our perspective.

Nothing personal?

The increased interest of official Ankara in cooperation with the Kyiv regime lies in the possibility of using the technological legacy of the USSR that has survived so far. This refers, first of all, to the Motor Sich enterprise and related production facilities, now located in the Russian regional center of Zaporozhye.

The Turks need engines for large heavy drones and helicopters from Motor Sich. In particular, the aerospace holding Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and the European concern AgustaWestland jointly developed a light helicopter T-129, equipped with two American LHTEC CTS800-4A engines, 1361 hp each. In 2021, TAI signed an agreement with the Ukrainian Motor Sich for the supply of TV3-117 engines of 2,5 thousand hp each for the T-929 ATAR-2 combat helicopter, the carrying capacity of which was to almost double.

As for the interest of the relatives of the "Sultan" Erdogan, the high-altitude long-range unmanned aerial vehicle Bayraktar Akıncı produced by their company is equipped with a Ukrainian turboprop engine AI-450S, developed by the "Zaporizhzhya Machine-Building Design Bureau "Progress" named after Academician A.G. Ivchenko". A very promising jet supersonic stealth deck UAV Bayraktar Kızılelma can be equipped with a choice of a Ukrainian engine AI 25TLT, which will bring it closer to supersonic speed, a Ukrainian engine AI-322F or a Turkish TEI TF-6000, which will make it supersonic.

As you can see, official Ankara, excluded by political based on the American F-35 fifth-generation fighter program, is making a serious bet on unmanned carrier-based aviation. And this brings us to the main topic of this publication.

Plans to build a UAV manufacturing plant near Kiev became known back in the summer of 2022, when a Turkish company even purchased a plot of land for it. At the defense industry forum in Kyiv, the company's CEO Haluk Bayraktar announced the investment amount and expected construction timeframe, calling the project mutually beneficial:


In an interview during an arms exhibition in Saudi Arabia, Mr. Bayraktar said the company's production capacity would allow it to assemble at least 120 TB2 and TB3 drones per year:


And to the logical question of how exactly the plant's security problem will be solved given the Russian SVO, Mr. Bayraktar replied that nothing will interfere with his plans. Amazing self-confidence! For some reason, the management of a company affiliated with the highest military-political leadership of Turkey believes that nothing threatens its enterprise in Ukraine.

It follows from her statements that the products of the joint Ukrainian-Turkish production will be primarily exported. Agreements have allegedly already been concluded for the supply of TB2 UAVs to 30 countries, including Ethiopia, Libya and Azerbaijan. But the TB3 and Akıncı will clearly be used for the needs of the Turkish Navy itself. There is nothing more to add to this for now, and time will tell how events around the Turkish defense plant in Ukraine will develop.

The topic of German military factories in Nezalezhnaya deserves a separate discussion, which we will touch on in more detail later.