Polish army to employ Turkish drones

By Azernews

By News Center

The Polish army is going to employ Turkish unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) in October, Yeni Shafal reports, citing Wojciech Skurkiewicz, Polish Deputy Defense Minister.

"Polish army will be equipped with Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles in October," Skurkiewicz said.

"We see how these drones operate in real-world dangerous and combat situations. It is a critical component of the military modernization," Skurkiewicz said, emphasizing the importance of the Turkish drones.

Poland is the first NATO member country to purchase unmanned combat aerial vehicles from Turkey.

Earlier, the international media described it as a "game-changer" with its spectacular performance in the second Karabakh war in 2020.

Bayraktar TB2 drones were the key to Azerbaijan's win over the Armenian forces in 2020 and put an end to the escalation of the long-standing conflict over the separatist enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The armed unmanned aerial vehicle Bayraktar TB-2 resurfaced on the agenda, with films showing it blowing up Russian tanks, armored vehicles, and surface-to-air missile defense systems.

Since the first Bayraktar TB-2s drones were delivered to Qatar in 2018, the company has signed 19 export agreements, including with Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. Six new transactions have been added to these export deals in the last three months alone.

Baykar is a private Turkish defense company specializing in UAVs and artificial intelligence, which was founded with 100 percent domestic capital in 1984 under Baykar Makina by Ozdemir Bayraktar.

The company’s primary goals were the production of automotive parts such as engines, pumps, and spare parts to ensure the localization of the automotive industry in Turkey.

In the 2000s, the company took steps toward producing unmanned aerial vehicles in line with the developments and progress in the aviation sector.