Ukraine buys combat drones from Turkey
Following negotiations between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Turkish President Recep Erdogan, Kyiv has signed an agreement with Ankara to buy a batch of Bayraktar TB2 combat drones, Ukrainan President Poroshenko announced on Facebook.
“These latest strike drones on the operative and tactical level, aside from the high-tech characteristics, can also be extended with modern precision missile weaponry for destroying armored vehicles, engineering and fortification buildings, as well as sea targets,” the Ukrainian President noted. The sale agreement was signed by the Ukrainian state-owned arms trading company Ukrspetsexport and the Turkish company Baykar Makina.
The Ukrainian President emphasized that the agreement “completely corresponds to the strategic course of Ukraine and the alliance (NATO), its standards, and those of the open world arms market, which the Ukrainian defense industry complex is being successfully integrated into”.
“We are continuing to rearm the Ukrainian army with modern models that meet NATO standards,” he added.
According to the Anadolu Agency, Baykar Makina is manufacturing six drones for the Ukrainian army, and will send them to Kyiv over the course of the year. Ukraine will also be sent the ground systems for controlling the unmanned aerial vehicles.
The Bayraktar TB2 is currently part of the armament of Turkey’s Navy, which has 75 such systems. The UAVs can be used at any time of day or night. They are equipped with laser guidance systems, and are armed with four missiles with a range of up to 8 km (and up to 16 km with several modifications).