Slovakia eyes Bayraktar drones

ISTANBUL

Slovakia is in talks for the procurement of unmanned armed aerial vehicle TB2 developed by Turkish company Baykar, the country’s defense minister, Jaroslav Nad, has announced.

Nad made the announcement on his Twitter account. “Works on acquiring drones for the Slovak military [are] moving forward. Good talk today with Mr. Bayraktar from Turkey, and discussions with other drone producers [are] ongoing,” Nad wrote.

Bayraktar’s TB2 drones have already been exported to a number of countries. Ukraine is using the Bayraktar drones in its fights against Russian forces in the ongoing war.

TB2 has become the most talked-about drone due to its success in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and other parts of the world, Selçuk Bayraktar, the chief technology officer (CTO) of the Turkish firm, said in a recent speech. He also noted that Baykar had sold more drones to the nations across the globe than any other company.

“Turkey is among the top three countries in the world in drone development. Baykar has inked export deals for its unmanned aerial vehicles with 19 countries, and most of the orders have been delivered,” he said.

Exports account for more than 90 percent of Baykar’s total revenues, according to Bayraktar.

“We are developing new platforms with the revenues generated from exports. We are also working on an unmanned combat aircraft,” he added.

Bayraktar TB2 is a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE), a tactical unmanned aerial vehicle capable of conducting Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) and armed attack missions.

The drone holds the record in the Turkish aviation history for endurance, with 27 hours 3 minutes, and for altitude with 25,030 feet.

Meanwhile, Bayraktar shared a video showing the endurance test flight of the company’s unmanned aerial combat vehicle AKINCI B, which was conducted on April 14.

The drone climbed to 35,000 feet, Bayraktar said.

Bayraktar AKINCI is capable of conducting operations that are performed with fighter jets, according to the company. Bayraktar AKINCI can be also used in air-to-ground and air-to-air attack missions.