Armed drones in Turkey: Erdogan son-in-law Selcuk Bayraktar, TB2 planes at war

Photographer: Burak Milli / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Last year, Selcuk Bayraktar helped provoke conflict in Libya and Azerbaijan, thousands of kilometers from his home in Turkey.

Bayraktar, a former MIT research student, married to the younger daughter of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was central to the emergence of Turkey as a producer of armed drones. In 2020, the unmanned aircraft of its Baykar company TB2 were used with devastating effects by governments in Tripoli and Baku, both Turkish allies.

The 41-year-old, whose surname means ‘standard bearer’, shares Erdogan’s ambition to make Turkey’s projection of military power more self-sufficient. They lead a push for homemade equipment that throws Ankara into awkward new alliances and forges ties with traditional NATO partners.

“Our planes are admired around the world,” Erdogan said in January. “Turkish armed UAVs are changing the methods of war and changing the trend of the war in Libya.” He later seized data showing seven Turkish defense companies among the world’s top 100, compared to two in 2016.

Bayraktar also likes to wrap itself in the flag. When some Turks pointed out his privileged position and the use of some imported parts, including engines, he tweeted that the drones ‘are not the groom’s, but the nation’s, and’ will fly whether you like it or not. not!’ According to him, the components of the aircraft were 93% manufactured in Turkey. Baykar did not respond to a request for comment.

Map of the Turkish army’s expanding footprint: QuickTake

The intention is unmistakable, but so are the risks. Turkey’s interventionist foreign policy and the pursuit of military elite technology could leave Ankara in a no – man’s land.

The US has approved and excluded Turkey from Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 jet program for the purchase of a Russian missile system, an agreement that Turkey hoped would include the transfer of technology. British and Canadian companies stopped delivering drone components as soon as concerns were expressed about how and where the aircraft were being used.

Turkish engineers are striving to develop domestic engines for tanks, as well as the experimental TF-X fighter after delays with an agreement with the British Rolls-Royce, but this is an expensive undertaking with no guarantee of early success.

“Turkey is fast becoming a market leader and emerging force in deadly drone technology,” he said Raluca Csernatoni, a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe. ‘It is part of a broader and ongoing effort to develop a self-sufficient defense industry and President Erdogan’s statement to reduce Turkey’s dependence on foreign weapons systems. However, it is easier said than done, ‘she said, referring to the Canadian decision to return from cooperation.

Understand the feuds plaguing US-Turkey alliance: QuickTake

Erdogan curtailed the influence of generals in defense procurement by taking direct control of the procurement agency and aligning it with businesses close to the government. The move created jobs and boosted military exports, which were $ 2 billion higher last year, led by armored vehicles and ships. In the drone market, Turkey remains a small player compared to the US, China and Israel.

Over the past two decades, only the United Arab Emirates has risen further on the table of arms suppliers set up by SIPRI, which examines global arms spending. Turkey’s overall spending on defense equipment has risen sharply, but imports fell by 59% from 2016 to 2020 compared to the previous five-year period. This includes suspended F-35 deliveries.

Turkish drones – Baykar has competition from Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. – also halted a major advance by Russian-backed government forces in Syria last year.

It was the kind of operation proud of the nationalist politicians and voters who pulled behind the president.

They are bitterly reminiscent of a US arms embargo imposed after Turkey conquered the northern third of Cyprus in 1974, as well as back-to-back decisions in 2015 by the US and Germany to withdraw air defenses. The disadvantages, which came as Turkey and a US coalition prepared for joint airstrikes on the Islamic State shocked Ankara, who saw them as punishing for a repression of Kurdish separatists who responded to the collapsing peace efforts with attacks.

In once-friendly Western capitals, Turkey’s supplies fell further as the war in Syria, migration, human rights and the aftermath of a failed coup in 2016 weakened ties.

Turkish leaders are increasingly insisting that traditional allies no longer have the country’s back. The conviction is behind defensive co-operation efforts with the likes of Russia and Pakistan, despite threats of US sanctions that have caused Turkish markets to tumble regularly and contributed to a currency crisis in 2018.