Category: 2022

Turkish drone magnate Baykar outperformed major companies in the defense and aerospace industry in terms of sales abroad last year, becoming the export champion of the sector, according to official data.

The Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) recently announced the top exporters in the 27 sectors, revealing that the export titan of the defense and aerospace industry has changed after many years.

Baykar, developer of the world-renowned Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) and the newer Akıncı state-of-the-art UCAV, surpassed the exports of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) which produces aircraft structures for global aviation industry companies.

Baykar is constantly increasing its export income with the contracts it makes. The company made $664 million in UCAV exports last year. This amount corresponded to more than 80% of the company’s 2021 turnover.

Baykar developed and launched the Bayraktar Mini UAV, Bayraktar TB2 and Bayraktar Akıncı UCAVs with its own research and development (R&D) projects. All three platforms achieved export success in addition to being used in Turkey.

The company is currently preparing for the launch of a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) Bayraktar UCAV and the National Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle System (MIUS).

The MIUS was named Bayraktar Kızılelma (“red apple”), referring to an _expression_ in Turkish mythology that symbolizes goals, ideas or dreams that are far away, but are more attractive the further that distance may be.

Making the first national UAV export in 2012, Baykar signed contracts with 21 countries for the Bayraktar TB2, the battle-proven drone used in Syria, Libya, Karabakh and Ukraine.

An export contract was signed with three countries for the Bayraktar Akıncı as well, which was delivered to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) most recently. Within the scope of the contracts, the Bayraktar Akıncı and ground systems are expected to be delivered periodically starting from 2023.

Baykar continues to conduct export negotiations with a number of countries for the Bayraktar TB2 and Bayraktar Akıncı.

Anew regulation paving the way for elections in minority foundations was officially implemented after it was published in the Official Gazette on Saturday. The move aims to end the frustration of the foundations, which mostly represent the Christian and Jewish communities of the country.

“The Community Foundations Election Regulation” had been in the works for almost one decade after an earlier regulation was suspended for an update. The regulation will cater to some 167 community foundations run by Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Jewish, Syriac, Chaldean, Bulgarian, Georgian and Maronite communities who are often referred to as “minorities,” though the term is not politically correct in a country striving to end past injustices to the communities.

The elections to pick new board members of the foundations that own and operate the communities’ properties, including places of worships like churches and synagogues, will be held only in cities where the foundations are located. For most foundations, this is Istanbul, the country’s most populated city which has historically been home to the most diverse of non-Muslim communities. In Istanbul, electoral constituencies will be required to be divided, just as in parliamentary elections where political parties nominate separate candidates for different constituencies, on the city’s European and Asian sides.

The election issue has been a source of dispute for a long time, especially in the presence of apparent internal rifts with opponents and supporters of current members of foundations, a pillar of the dwindled number of minorities. The Directorate of Foundations have held consultations with representatives of foundations for a draft regulation earlier, after the government annulled the earlier regulation in 2013, promising a better, more comprehensive one.

Foundations of non-Muslim minorities have a legal status under the Lausanne Peace Treaty of 1923, which granted them equality before the law and freedom to establish and run “religious and social institutions.”

Turkey boosted its outreach to its minorities in the past two decades and mostly resolved the issue of minority foundation properties seized by the state and other entities in the past. Some 1,084 properties were returned to those foundations between 2003 and 2018, while 20 places of worship were restored and handed over to the communities.

A 1936 charter had paved the way for foundations to acquire properties but a 1974 court ruling reversed the process, enabling the state to seize the properties minorities acquired after 1936. Properties were mostly returned to their original owners, and in the absence of owners, they were acquired by the Treasury.

New regulations in the 2000s enacted in compliance with Turkey’s harmonization packages for European Union membership, helped the return of properties to foundations.

Under the new regulation, every foundation will be entitled to hold elections for seven board members once every five years. For larger foundations, the number of board members will be limited to 11 at the most. Board member candidates are required to be older than 18, citizens of the Republic of Turkey, be a member of the community the foundation serves and a resident of the constituencies for at least six months before elections. The candidates will also be required not to have a criminal record and be literate. Any one candidate will be allowed to serve as board member of three different foundations at most, and every board will be required to limit the number of board members with kinship to two.

The foundations will be required to formally notify the local Directorate of Foundations at least 60 days before the election, with proper documents about the election. The foundations will be barred from running proceedings on ownership of properties from the day they decide to hold elections to after the elections. The communities will also be required to form an election organization body.

Turkey’s most advanced and sophisticated drone, the Bayraktar Akıncı unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), has successfully completed another important stage in the ammunition integration process.

The developing company, Baykar, said the drone has completed a firing test with the domestically developed KGK-SIHA-82 (wing-assisted guidance kit) ammunition.

It said the drone, which took off from Çorlu province in northwestern Turkey on June 14, successfully completed the first firing test carried out for a determined coordinate on the sea off the coast of Sinop on the Black Sea.

The electro-optical camera on the Akıncı and the telemetry antennas on the ground confirmed that the ammunition weighing 340 kilograms (750 pounds) hit the target 30 kilometers (18.64 miles) away with pinpoint accuracy.

The KGK-SIHA-82 useful load has been developed by TÜBITAK Defense Industries Research and Development Institute (SAGE).

The Bayraktar Akıncı, which recently performed another successful firing test for a sea surface target with the Teber-82 Guidance Kit developed by another defense giant, Roketsan, also holds the altitude record in Turkish national aviation history.

The drone broke the altitude record by reaching an altitude of 40,170 feet in the test flight on March 11.

Bayraktar Akıncı UCAVs, which entered the inventory with a ceremony attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Aug. 29, 2021, are currently actively used by the security forces in operational duties. So far, six Bayraktar Akıncı UCAV have entered service.

Meanwhile, export contracts have been signed with three countries for this particular combat drone.

Within the scope of the contracts, the Bayraktar Akıncı UCAV and ground control systems are expected to be delivered periodically starting from 2023. Baykar, which made its first national UAV export in 2012, completed the export of $664 million worth of UCAVs in 2021, obtaining more than 80% of its revenues from exports.

The Defense Industries Research and Development Institute (SAGE) of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK) is working with the team that developed Turkey’s state-of-the-art unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) Akıncı for air-to-air missiles.

“There may be other platforms for the future, works are continuing with this regard,” its General Director Gürcan Okumuş told Anadolu Agency (AA) during the MMG-EURITECH Eurasia R&D, Innovation & Technology Summit and Exhibition held in the IT Valley in northwestern Kocaeli province’s Gebze district.

Okumuş said that air-to-air missiles are very critical and they are defined as the “sword” of aircraft.

He also pointed out that having products that are developed nationally works as an impact multiplier.

“With these missiles, we aim to see without being seen, and to be able to hit from far away. It will be much easier for us to do this with our own missiles. High technology is not easily shared between countries, or even not shared at all. It is not possible to easily acquire these from abroad through technology transfer. Therefore, the output of every project here is a new achievement,” he said.

Turkey has already started mass-production of its latest miniature munition developed for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), according to earlier statements of Okumuş.

Developed by TÜBİTAK SAGE, the laser-guided munition Bozok has undergone multiple successful fire tests. Its firing tests saw it being integrated into the Bayraktar TB2 UCAV, manufactured by drone magnate Baykar who also developed the Akıncı.

Bozok is smaller and has a light compact structure in comparison to the MAM-L, which has been actively used by Turkey’s drones. MAM-L is part of the family of domestically developed smart micro munitions (MAM), including MAM-C and MAM-T.

Turkey has also neared the final stage when it comes to its homegrown air-to-air missiles Bozdoğan and Gökdoğan, also developed by TÜBITAK SAGE.