Ukraine Plans to Buy 48 More Bayraktar Strike Drones from Turkey

Azerbaijan is actively using these UAVs in its military conflict with Armenia.

As reported by Vadym Nozdria, CEO of Ukrspetsexport, representatives of Ukraine and Turkey have agreed on the purchase of weapons. This is reported by Defence Express. 

The Ministry of Defence planned to buy 6-12 Bayraktar TB2 systems, with 3-4 drones per system. Today these intentions have received official confirmation. "Thus, Ukraine plans to receive 48 drones, which the Ministry of Defence plans to put into service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Vadym Nozdria said.

This is a fairly large batch of UAVs, even compared with Turkish orders: it is reported that Turkey's security agencies have received 107 such unmanned aircraft in total.

Ukraine bought the first 6 Bayraktar drones and 3 ground control stations in 2019, when Ukrainian military personnel also underwent training in Turkey. Now the plan is to expand and localise production of these drones in order to pursue a protectionist policy regarding them.

Bayraktar TB2 drones are currently being tested in different climatic conditions; if everything goes successfully, Ukraine will agree to purchase another batch.

Also, if Ukraine manages to set up and localise the production of such UAVs, it is not excluded that they will be exported to other countries (except those markets where Turkish drones are already present).

It is known that such aircraft are currently being used very actively in combat operations in Azerbaijan.