According to information published by Anadolu Agency on May 25, 2021, the Polish Ministry of Defense will buy 24 armed drones from Turkey becoming the first NATO member to buy Turkish-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) Bayraktar TB2.

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Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones (Picture source: Anadolu Agency)

Turkish defense technology company Baykar has sold its Bayraktar TB2 armed drone to Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Qatar, and Libya. Erdogan said in March that Saudi Arabia was also interested in buying Turkish drones.

The Bayraktar Tactical UAS is a surveillance and reconnaissance unmanned aircraft system (UAS) initially developed for the Turkish Armed Forces. It is developed by the Kale-Baykar, a joint venture between the Kale Group and Baykar Technologies.

The Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System, developed in accordance with the concept of the Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) class UAV, is equipped with national and original fully automatic flight control features, a three back-up flight control system architecture, and unique navigational and sensor fusion applications and is one of the reconnaissance and surveillance vehicles being developed at an advanced technological level.

The Bayraktar UAV System has a cruising speed of 70 knots with an operational flight altitude of 24.000 feet, 24 hours of flight time, and a communication range of 150 km and has a 12-m wingspan, 650-kg maximum take-off weight, and 55-kg payload capacity.

The Bayraktar TB2 is used operationally by the Turkish Armed Forces and is able to employ MAM and MAM-L ammunitions and UMTAS missiles.