Ukraine inks deal with Türkiye’s Baykar on drones repair

Ukraine’s defense ministry signed an agreement with Turkish drone magnate Baykar Makina to build a service center for the repair and maintenance of drones in Ukraine, a ministry official said

Ukraine is seeking to boost domestic production of drones to build an “Army of Drones” in its fight against Russian forces who invaded the country in February 2022.

“The creation of a service center will be a significant contribution to strengthening Ukraine’s defense capabilities and will help bring our victory closer,” the ministry’s state secretary Kostiantyn Vashchenko said in a statement.

Ukrainian producers have sharply increased domestic drone production. More than 10,000 drone operators have been trained with 10,000 more in training, Mykhailo Fedorov, a deputy prime minister in charge of the “Army of Drones” said last week.

Both Ukrainian and Russian forces have used a wide array of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, for reconnaissance and assault purposes during the war.

Ukrainian media reported earlier this month, citing Ukraine’s minister of strategic industries Oleksandr Kamyshin, that Baykar has started the construction of a plant to manufacture Baykar’s famed Bayraktar TB2 UAVs in Ukraine.

The Bayraktar TB2, which has been used by Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, along with conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Karabakh, spearheads Türkiye’s global defense export push.

The TB2 has been hugely popular in Ukraine, where it helped destroy Russian artillery systems and armored vehicles. It even became the subject of a patriotic expletive-strewn hit song in Ukraine that mocked Russian troops, with the chorus “Bayraktar, Bayraktar.”