UAV manufacturer countries developing drones’ software dominate the devices, Baykar’s CTO says

Countries that develop the software technology used in their UAVs, also dominate these devices, said Selcuk Bayraktar, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Turkey’s Baykar Tech, country’s leading drone manufacturer.

“High-tech devices have an advanced software, and only those who develop that technology can dominate the software,” Bayraktar said in response to a question of what will happen if the countries that purchased the UAVs from Turkey, declare war on the manufacturer country,” during a live broadcast on Tv100 on Tuesday.

“Of course, you have close relations with the countries to which you sell UAVs and you do not have such concerns. Turkey already has strategic alliances with these countries,” Bayraktar said, defense news site SavunmaSaniyist reported.

“The greatest added value of the drones is actually in their software,” Selcuk Bayraktar told Tv100, adding that TB2s were 93 percent indigenous made. Informing on Turkey’s unmanned aerial vehicle inventory, Bayraktar also said the country has around 150 TB2s and 12 Akinci drones.

Baykar Tech, owned by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s in-laws, is a Turkish defence giant internationally famed with its signature TB2 drones that have proved effectiveness in a series of conflicts in the recent years, including Ukraine, Libya, Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh.

Commenting on Selcuk Bayraktar’s remarks, Terrorism and Security Specialist Abdullah Agar told pro-government A Haber that “When you sell this UAV system, you do not only make money out of it, but you also make a coordination, create a strategy with those counties. Through the system, we develop an addiction to us. This is an extremely important issue. The is much more than a weaponry sale.”

As of October 2022, the TB2 was sold to 24 countries including NATO member Poland, while the company has signed deals with five other countries for exports of its much larger version, Akinci drone, according to Baykar’s CEO Haluk Bayraktar. He said the company expected around $1 billion in export revenues for 2022, with a further 50 percent growth expected in 2023.