РНБОУ National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine

Ukraine and Turkey set up a joint venture in precision weapons and aerospace technologies

The state company "Ukrspetsexport, a member of the "Ukroboronprom", and the Turkish company Baykar Defence, one of the leading manufacturers of drones, established a joint venture in precision weapons and aerospace technologies.

The main task of the venture is to combine the capabilities of both countries' defense complexes for large-scale production of new models of modern weapons for their armies. This will allow moving away from classic arms purchase contracts to an entirely new level of cooperation - the synergy of defense technologies and the combination of advanced developments from Turkey and Ukraine.

One of the first joint venture projects will be the development of a new-generation unmanned aerial vehicle. This drone will be able to conduct detailed reconnaissance from high echelons of flight, spend hours in the air, develop considerable cruising speed and strike targets with a wide range of high-precision weapons.

Such new drone capabilities will be made possible by the widespread use of composite materials, digital technologies, and Ukrainian-made engines capable of operating reliably in extreme conditions. In addition, they will provide high UAV carrying capacity, which will carry a large amount of armament, even compared to conventional assault aircraft. Ukraine and the Republic of Turkey have considerable experience of effective cooperation in defense technologies.

Turkish defense enterprises cooperate with Ukraine in the field of digital communications systems, combat drones, high-precision aviation weapons, etc.. The enterprises of SC "Ukroboronprom" are conducting joint projects on the creation of military transport aircraft, active defense systems for armored vehicles and radar systems. Stable mutually beneficial work has been established in recent years, which allows combining the strengths of our defense-industrial complexes. And establishing a joint venture is another important step that will increase our countries' defense capability.