Malaysia, Indonesia show interest in Turkish drones: Turkish FM

TOKYO

Malaysia and Indonesia have expressed keen interest in buying armed drones from Turkish defense firm Baykar, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Sept. 26.

Çavuşoğlu answered journalists’ questions at Japan National Press Club (JNPC) in Tokyo, where he came to attend the funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, who was assassinated.

Stating that they will hold consultations with Japan on the defense industry and security, Çavuşoğlu said, “If Japan wants to buy our defense industry products, we will gladly meet Japan’s needs in this area as well.”

The UAVs and SİHAs Türkiye produces are among the best and even the first products produced in the world, he said. “I can say that in Libya, especially in Tripoli, it is the Turkish armed drones that prevent the invasion. We want to improve our cooperation with Japan in the field of defense industry as well as in every other field.”

“Other Asian countries are also very interested at the moment, especially Malaysia and Indonesia, these countries show great interest in our defense industry products,” he stated.

Emphasizing that Türkiye does not compete with any country in the field of drones and is working to develop its own technology, Çavuşoğlu said, “But there is probably no other armed drones in the world where songs are composed like our armed drones are named.”

“The most popular name given to boys born in Ukraine, Bayraktar. In the defense industry, both our public and private companies produce highly successful and high-quality products,” he added.

Ukraine said that the Turkish TB2 drones it had at the start of the war had proved their worth against the Russian forces. The TB2 helped undermine Russia’s overwhelming military superiority.

The number of countries where Turkish fighter drone Bayraktar TB2 is being exported to has risen to 24, said Haluk Bayraktar, the CEO of Baykar, in early September, adding that the share of exports in the company’s revenue for this year has reached 98 percent.

So far, more than 400 Bayraktar TB2 and 20 Bayraktar Akinci have been produced, he said. But there are plans to raise production next year to 500 Bayraktar TB2 and 40 Bayraktar Akinci, he added.