Armed drones in Turkey: son-in-law Erdogan Selcuk Bayraktar, TB2 Planes in War

Photographer: Burak Milli / Anadolu Agency through Getty Images

Last year, Selcuk Bayraktar helped grow conflicts in Libya and Azerbaijan, thousands of miles from his home in Turkey.

A former MIT research student married to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s youngest daughter, Bayraktar has been central to Turkey’s emergence as a producer of armed drones. In 2020, the governments of Tripoli and Baku, both Turkish allies, used their Baykar company’s TB2 drones with devastating effects.

The 41-year-old, whose last name means “standard-bearer,” shares Erdogan’s ambition to make Turkey’s military power more self-sufficient. They are leading a momentum for a self-produced team that will propel Ankara into new awkward alliances and convulsions with traditional NATO partners.

“Our air vehicles are admired all over the world,” Erdogan said in January. “Turkish armed UAVs are changing the methods of war and have changed the trend of war in Libya.” He later seized data showing seven Turkish defense companies among the top 100 in the world, compared to two in 2016.

Bayraktar also likes to wrap himself in the flag. When some Turks pointed to their privileged position and Baykar’s use of some imported parts, including engines, he tweeted that the drones “are not from the groom” but from the nation and will fly if you wish or not. ! ”. He said the components of the planes are 93% manufactured in Turkey. Baykar did not respond to any email search messages.

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The intention is unmistakable, but so are the risks. Turkey’s interventionist foreign policy and all that is needed for the pursuit of elite military technology could leave Ankara in no one’s transactional land.

The United States sanctioned Turkey and closed it to Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 jet program to buy a Russian missile system, an agreement Turkey hoped to include technology transfer. Companies in the UK and Canada stopped supplying drone components once concerns were raised about how and where aircraft were used.

Turkish engineers strive to develop domestic tank engines, as well as the experimental TF-X fighter after lagging behind in a deal with Britain’s Rolls-Royce, but it is an expensive company with no guarantees of early success .

“Turkey is rapidly becoming a market leader and emerging power in lethal drone technology,” he said Raluca Csernatoni, visiting academic of Carnegie Europe. “This is part of a broader and ongoing effort to develop a self-sufficient defense industry and President Erdogan’s stated ambition to reduce Turkey’s dependence on foreign weapons systems. However, this is easier to do. say what to do, ”he said, citing Canada’s decision to withdraw from cooperation.

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Erdogan curbed the influence of generals on defense purchases, taking direct control of the recruitment agency and aligning it with companies close to the government. The change created jobs and increased military exports, which topped $ 2 billion last year, led by armored vehicles and ships. In the drone market, Turkey remains a smaller player compared to the US, China and Israel.

Over the past two decades, only the United Arab Emirates has increased the table of arms suppliers compiled by SIPRI, which investigates global arms spending. Turkey’s overall spending on defense equipment has risen sharply, but imports fell 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 that aroused the pride of nationalist politicians and voters who have gathered behind the president.

They bitterly recall the U.S. arms embargo imposed after Turkey captured the northern third of Cyprus in 1974, as well as the 2015 consecutive decisions by the United States and Germany to withdraw air defenses. The cuts, which came as Turkey and a U.S.-led coalition were preparing for joint airstrikes against the Islamic State, surprised Ankara, which considered them the punishment for a crackdown on Kurdish separatists who had reacted to the attack. collapse of peace efforts with attacks.

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

Turkish leaders are increasingly insisting that traditional allies no longer have the back of the country. The condemnation is behind attempts at defensive cooperation with people from Russia and Pakistan, despite threats of US sanctions that have periodically brought down Turkish markets and contributed to a currency crisis in 2018.