Unusual Exporter of Military Drones 

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Turkey has been building a domestic drone industry, and within a decade, this country has turned from a country relying heavily on foreign-made drones to a drone exporting state.

Ankara’s drone program has morphed into a successful industry and a potent military force.

Turkey is wielding its new arsenal in a military campaign against Kurdish fighters in Syria. Turkey’s drones have enabled a conflict in an already volatile region; more worrisome, Ankara’s successful drone program is an example that several other countries hope to emulate.

Like many other countries, Turkey has prioritized the development of a domestic industry in order to reduce its dependency on systems made by the United States and Israel, the traditional drone-production powerhouses.

The introduction of the domestically-produced Bayraktar Mini, a handheld reconnaissance drone, in 2007 marked the beginning of the local manufacturing process. Some of Turkey’s early efforts to develop domestic drones did not go smoothly. 

According to thebulletin.org, Turkey’s drone program has ballooned in the past two years. From the end of 2017 to today, the military’s inventory of Bayraktar TB2s more than doubled from around 38 to 94, about half of which are believed to be armed. Turkey’s fleet of Ankas, which have become another of the country’s mainstays, has grown to around 30. 

The two aircraft models are now in service with at least six military and security organizations: the Army, Air Force, Navy, Gendarmerie (national military police), the National Intelligence Organization, and the General Directorate of Security (national civilian police).

To accommodate Turkey’s growing unmanned fleet, Ankara has been rapidly building out a network of drone outposts at airports in the southeast of the country, along the Syrian border, as well as on the Aegean and Mediterranean coastline. 

A key factor behind Turkey’s efforts to develop drones and related infrastructure is Ankara’s ongoing fight against Kurdish organizations such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. As of June, Turkey’s Bayraktar TB2s have accumulated more than 100,000 operational flight hours in a little under four years, an indication of how important drones are to Turkish military officials. And these drones may not be targeting only fighters, as Turkey claims. 

Turkey has become an exporter of military drones: It has exported the Bayraktar TB2 to Qatar and Ukraine and is reportedly courting sales to Indonesia and Tunisia. In Libya, Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones have reportedly been used by the UN-recognized Government of National Accord against the forces of Libyan National Army leader General Khalifa Haftar, who has his own supply of Chinese-made drones.