Turkey is slated to pursue an ambitious procurement plan for 2020 as the country recovers entatively from an economic crisis in 2018 and the government spends money fighting wars on multiple fronts, including Iraq and Syria, Defense News reported on Tuesday.
Accordingly, an attack drone built by Turkish aircraft manufacturer Baykar, Akıncı, will be delivered to the military at the end of 2020, it said, citing the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB). The new armed drone successfully completed its second test flight last month.
Turkey is also waiting on the delivery of the kamikaze drone, Kargu-2, according to the SSB. The Turkish government will acquire a total of 356 Kargu-2 drones according to a contract with defence engineering consultancy STM, it said. The STM is also set to deliver, Alpagu, a fixed-wing, autonomous tactical attack drone, Defense News said, on which Turkey would largely rely on for its warfare against Kurdish militants in the southeast of the country.
Turkey will also sign a contract for the production of cargo drones this year, the SSB said.
Turkey has laid out ambitious targets and strategies for its defence industry with defence and aerospace turnover planned to reach $26.9 billion in 2023, the centennial year of its creation, from $6.7 billion in 2018.
Source: Ahval