Turkey issues license for production of Bayraktar TB2 in Ukraine

The company's CEO Haluk Bayraktar reported this. 

“We have received the relevant license permits from Turkey for the full production of Baykar TB2 and Akıncı unmanned aerial vehicles in Ukraine,” he said.

The total investment planned for the construction of these facilities is USD 95.5 million.

For reference.

Baykar was founded in 1986 by Ozdemir Bayraktar. It was a family business focused on the development of automotive parts. However, the company's founder's sons, Haluk and Selçuk, were interested in aviation. Having received a technical education, they decided to create something more ambitious to enter the market. In 2000, they started developing drones.

The idea of developing Turkish UAVs appealed to the local Conservative Party, which came to power in 2002. This is how their mass production began.

The Bayraktar TB2 can fly for 27 hours without interruption and hit targets at a distance of more than 10 km. However, these machines are most often used to adjust fire and observe the enemy. The surgical precision of these drones allows them to minimize civilian casualties.

• On August 8, 2022, Haluk Bayraktar acquired a plot of land in Ukraine for the construction of a Bayraktar drone manufacturing plant. According to him, this project was conceived before the outbreak of a full-scale war in Ukraine.

• In December, Ukraine's Ambassador to Turkey Vasyl Bodnar predicted that the first UAVs would be released in two years.