Ukrainian journalist reveals how many combat drones Ukraine is buying from Turkey
Ukraine will be purchasing six combat drones from Turkey, and 200 missiles for them, journalist Yuriy Butusov reported on Facebook.
“Also in the deal are two control stations, a set of spare parts, service support, and personnel training. The cost of the contract is $69 million,” he writes.
The journalist believes that acquiring the drones will be beneficial for Ukraine.
“I understand the criticism, but nevertheless, I think that buying the Bayraktars is extremely beneficial for Ukraine at this stage, and is necessary to improve the technological and combat capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Yes, the price of the Bayraktars is high. But that depends on what you compare it to. Weapons of a similar class are produced by only six countries. The US, China and Israel are the three primary producers of heavy attack drones with guided weapons. NATO countries buy combat UAVs from the US. Recently, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan have also mastered the production of drones with guided weapons. Russia, despite the fact that development of attack drones has been financed since 2005, has still been unable to master the production of attack drones. Buying the Bayraktars will give [Ukraine] a serious technological advantage. We will be able to familiarize ourselves with the use of a modern combat UAV and its ammunition, study the principles of operation. In order to develop its own Bayraktars, Turkey at first bought 4 American MQ-9 Reaper attack drones. And it was on the basis of these that Turkey created its own combat craft,” Butusov believes.
However, Butusov emphasized that the investments in the construction of UAVs in Ukraine are very small.
“Aside from the large Turkish drones, with government investments, Ukraine could now create new types of tactical attack drones which would be widely demanded throughout the world in the near future,” he writes.
On November 6, 2018, the media reported that Ukraine would be purchasing Bayraktar TB2 drones from Turkey.