Turkey delivers Bayraktar combat drones to Ukraine
On Wednesday, at the meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced the delivery of a batch of Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles to Ukraine from Turkey.
"Now, exercises with the new, powerful Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicle will be carried out, the supplies of which I managed to agree with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. I can even say that these drones are already in the territory of Ukraine,” he said.
The agreement on the unmanned aerial vehicles was signed in January by the Ukrainian state-owned arms trading company Ukrspetsexport which is part of the State Concern Ukroboronprom, and the Turkish company Baykar Makina. The negotiations on the purchase of these drones lasted for about two years.
The Bayraktar TB2 can carry guided, anti-tank missiles and aircraft bombs. It is equipped with a Rotax 912 internal-combustion engine and its fuselage is made of composite materials. The Bayraktar also uses an automatic take-off and landing system.