ISTANBUL: The Turkish defence company plans to start producing its new UCAV, an unmanned combat aerial vehicle that is already generating interest abroad, next year, Baykar’s chairman Selcuk Bayraktar said.
The TB-2, the company’s light drone, which has been used in the Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and North Africa and has been a huge export success, has assisted Baykar in recent years in becoming one of the most significant Turkish defence exporters, Reuters said.
The drone, known by its codename Kizilelma, broadens its product line from slow land attack drones to quick, agile, autonomous ones that operate alongside fighter planes.
The 15-meter-long, jet-powered UCAV was supposed to be highly autonomous, subject to human control, according to Bayraktar, who oversaw the project.
In some ways, the Kizilelma represents a brand-new era in military aviation.
Baykar intends to start small-scale manufacturing the following year. Kizilelma completed its first flight in December, and this month Baykar’s other drones and it began testing flying in formation.
The vehicle is ready to launch on test flights with manned aircraft. The next year will see the deployment of the assault ship for Turkiye.
Due to its specific qualities, the new drone can only be shipped to a small number of export markets, but there is already a desire for it on a global scale.
Bayraktar, who is married to the daughter of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, spoke outside of an aerospace and technology fair that his foundation had sponsored.
Erdogan’s election campaign extensively used high-profile military initiatives, and Bayraktar claimed to consider the drone as the fruit of a national desire and a product “where we tell the globe that our country is not only a player but also a game maker.”
