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A Bayraktar Akıncı combat drone. Source: the Turkish Ministry of National Defense.
On July 18, Saudi Arabia had agreed to buy Turkish drones in what was described as the biggest defense contract in Turkey’s history.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attended the signing ceremony between Turkish defense firm Baykar and the Saudi Ministry of Defense.
Saudi Arabia will acquire the drones “with the aim of enhancing the readiness of the kingdom’s armed forces and bolstering its defense and manufacturing capabilities,” Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman said in a tweet after the announcement.
Baykar CEO Haluk Bayraktar said that the deal with Saudi Arabia was the biggest defense and aviation export contract in Turkey’s history.
“We signed a contract with the Saudi Arabian defense ministry for the Bayraktar Akinci [combat drone] export and cooperation,” he said in a Twitter post.
With a wingspan of 20 meters, Akinci is among Turkey’s largest combat drones. The drone can be equipped with a beyond-line-of-sight satellite communications system that enables it to operate thousands of kilometers away from its home base.
Akinci was designed by Baykar to carry out intelligence, surveillance and target acquisition missions, command, control and communication tasks as well as combat operations.
Erdogan arrived in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah on July 17 for the first stop of a Gulf tour that also included Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The official Saudi Press Agency said that also Erdogan and Prince Mohammed also attended the signing of a defense cooperation plan by Prince Khalid and Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler. No details on the cooperation plan were provided, however.
In a separate statement, Baykar said that the agreement with Saudi Arabia entails cooperation on technology transfer and joint production “in order to advance the high technology development capability of the two countries”.
The drone deal was a major success for Erdogan, who adopted a more pragmatic foreign policy to deal with Turkey’s economic problems. Ankara and Riyadh were at odds over many issues in the Middle East just a few years ago. Now, the two sides appear to be prioritizing economic cooperation.
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