The Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 tactical unmanned aerial vehicle systems on supplies of which the Ukrainian and Turkish sides have previously agreed are already in Ukraine and their trials will begin soon, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.
“I can disclose the information that there will be the testing of the new powerful tactical unmanned aerial vehicle complex Bayraktar, which I was able to negotiate with the President of Turkey [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]. I can even say that these complexes are already in Ukraine,”
Poroshenko said while opening a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine in Kyiv on Wednesday.
As reported, during an official visit to Turkey on November 4, 2018, Poroshenko visited the production facility of the Baykar Makina company, which is one of the world’s leaders in the manufacture of powerful unmanned aircraft systems.
On January 12, 2019, Ukrainian state-owned company Ukrspecexport and the Turkish company Baykar Makina signed an agreement on the purchase of Bayraktar TB2 drone systems for the Ukrainian army.
According to Poroshenko, the agreement between Ukrspecexport and Baykar Makina is part of measures to expand military-technical cooperation between Ukraine and Turkey and “fully complies with Ukraine’s strategic course” towards NATO and with its “standards and the open world arms market.”
“These newest tactical drones, in addition to high-tech characteristics, can also be equipped with modern high-precision missiles systems to destroy armored vehicles, engineering facilities and fortifications, as well as naval targets,” Poroshenko said on Facebook to comment on the signing of the contract.
Source: Inter Fax- Ukraine