On September 29, in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, “1. “International Defense Industries Forum” was held. 252 companies from 30 countries participated in this forum. Under the leadership of Mustafa Şeker, Vice President of Defense Industry from our country, we participated together with representatives of defense industry companies such as Aselsan, Baykar, BMC, Havelsan, Roketsan, STM.
Technology became the priority!
In the statement made by Baykar, it was said that the Turkish delegation held meetings with Ukrainian Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov and Minister of Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamishin. It was also stated that he was among the 10 CEOs invited to a private meeting by President Zelensky.
President Zelensky emphasized the importance of the intensive use of unmanned aerial vehicles, especially in wars, air defense technologies and the need for mine clearance, and stated that technology is now the most important priority.
Baykar also met with Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation Mihaylo Fedorov. During his meeting with Minister Fedorov, he evaluated the studies on high technology development capability.
Joint defense projects started
Haluk Bayraktar, who participated as a speaker in the panel titled “Defense Technologies and Technological Superiority” organized within the scope of the forum, touched upon the following issues: Turkey-Ukraine relations were elevated to the level of strategic partnership with the High Level Strategic Council (YDSK) mechanism established in 2011. With this level of strategic relationship, many defense industry projects have been initiated between the two countries.
UAVs are changing the battlefield
After the occupation, significant changes occurred, especially in war doctrines. The use of UAVs in warfare is increasing. Especially the continuous surveillance and coordination of UAVs with artillery and rocket units make a difference. We see that cost-effective UAV concepts play an important role in areas such as continuous reconnaissance and intelligence, information and image sharing for the global world, real-time coordination, and electronic warfare.
Baykar Bayraktar TB2 will also appear in popular games!
Baykar Bayraktar TB2, which is part of the Turkish Armed Forces, will be added to the tactical FPS game Squad.
First in world history
Haluk Bayraktar continued with the following words:
“With the start of the war, we, as Baykar, investigated how we could best support Ukraine against the challenges it faced. We were very impressed by the campaign launched by millions of people in 7 different countries, including Lithuania, Ukraine, Poland, Latvia, Norway, Canada and Spain, to purchase the Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicle.
This is probably the first time in world history that donations were collected for direct purchase by naming a main weapon platform. We did not accept the money collected in these campaigns in order to support this common effort of humanity and raise hope.
We directed public donations directly to humanitarian aid and support for Ukraine. We donated the Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles to Ukraine free of charge. In addition, we sent humanitarian aid trucks and organized summer camps and similar organizations in Turkey so that Ukrainian children could get away from the war environment for a while.
The “High Technologies and Aviation Industry Cooperation Framework Agreement” was signed by the presidents of the two countries on February 3, 2022, 21 days before the start of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
With this agreement, the unmanned aerial vehicle excellence and production center investment that Baykar announced to make in Ukraine in 2021 was also approved. Baykar’s commitment includes purchasing land for the factory and developing basic infrastructure, including electricity supply.
Construction activities officially started on June 1, 2023 and are currently in full swing. We aim to complete this state-of-the-art facility within 1.5 years with an estimated fixed investment of 100 million US dollars.
What makes this cooperation even more important is that it contributes to Ukraine’s strategic goals. When this project is completed; Ukraine will have the facilities that house the research-development and production capabilities required for the local production of Bayraktar series UAVs. With the implementation of this project, Ukraine will be at the center of this extraordinary success story with its highly qualified staff of at least 300 people, initially consisting of engineers and technicians.
I think it is important to emphasize that despite a full-scale war and all the risks that clearly exist, Baykar has not only maintained his commitment, but also expanded his investments and efforts.
These efforts demonstrate the power of collaboration in the face of challenges. In addition, we see it as a symbol of hope, innovation and durability. Our mutual efforts reaffirm our commitment to working together for a brighter and more prosperous future.
We also had the opportunity to tour the factory construction with the Minister of Strategic Industries, Kamishin. During this trip, we met with Ukrainian Border Guard Commander Serhiy Deyneko. At this meeting, they honored me once again with a medal for our contributions to protecting the borders of Ukraine.
Finally, I would like to give information about some of the issues I observed in Ukraine. It is stated that with the start of the war, Ukraine spent 40 billion dollars a year on the defense industry. Ukraine wants to cover some of this expense with its domestic technology.
The most important thing at this point is that the public and technology developing companies have joined hands. They realized that their independence would be stronger as their high technology development capacity increased. That’s why a big movement started.
People and companies are mobilized. More than 100 companies producing drones of different scales and capabilities have been established in the country in a short time. These companies have started production very quickly to meet the need and they operate for the defense of the country with their products.
As the management of SAHA Istanbul, Europe’s largest industrial cluster, we held meetings with some of these companies. Additionally, as SAHA Istanbul, we agreed to organize joint cooperation forums with the Ukrainian Defense Forum.“