How the Turkish military platform SavunmaSanayiST.com reports that Saudi Arabia is buying Bayraktar Akinci attack drones from Turkish manufacturer Baykar. With a volume equivalent to almost three billion euros, this is said to be the largest single order that the Turkish defense industry has ever received.
According to the President of the Turkish Defense Industry Association, Haluk Görgün, a contract was signed last week between the Baykar company and the government in Riyadh for a considerable number of the combat drone powered by two 750 hp turboprops. “Yes, this is the biggest export the Turkish defense industry has ever made,” said Görgün. Baykar said in a statement, “We have signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense of Saudi Arabia for the export and cooperation of Bayraktar Akinci. May the largest defense and aviation export contract in the history of our republic be auspicious and groundbreaking.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPiAy30ln2U
Second export hit after the Baykar TB2
The HALE (High Altitude Long Endurance) UCAV (= combat drone) Akinci, with a maximum take-off weight of 5.5 tons, a wingspan of 20 metres and a payload capacity of over 24 hours flight time (at around 400 km/h) at eight stations, can use almost the entire range of ammunition that an F-16 can carry. For example, laser-guided intelligent ammunition, missiles and long-range stand-off ammunition. The system first flew in 2019 and has been in service with the Turkish military since 2021. Baykar has also already exported its Akinci to seven different countries such as Azerbaijan and Pakistan. The state-of-the-art manufacturer – the CEO is the son-in-law of the recently re-elected President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – became internationally renowned in 2020 with the single-engine twin-fuselage UCAV Bayraktar TB2, which Azerbaijan used with great success against Armenia during the reconquest of the provinces around Karabakh. In the meantime, 30 countries have signed contracts for the delivery of TB2s, including Ukraine, which used them in the the initial phase of the Russian attack in the initial phase of the Russian attack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U_hpOQ4HKM
Historical name
At IDEX 2023 in Abu Dhabi this February, Militär Aktuell received a briefing about the Akinci and Baykar’s manager L. Hüseyin was surprised to learn that the historical name of the special unit (آقنجى = Storm Rider) of the former Ottoman army is well known to Viennese with an affinity for military history. The members of the irregular – i.e. mostly unsalaried and financed by robbery and slave trade – Ottoman cavalry troops were immortalized in Christian chronicles as “fear and terror-spreading racers and burners”. immortalized.
