Turkish Bayraktar drones factory is being built in Ukraine - Official
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According to Ukraine's ambassador to Turkey, Baykar, the company that develops the Bayraktar combat drones, will soon be having its own factory in Ukraine.
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A piece of land has already been purchased and developed by the company where Baykar sought to build the factory
In a Monday interview with RBC Ukraine, Vasyl Bodnar, Ukraine's ambassador to Turkey, said that a Baykar factory, the Turkish company which produces the Bayraktar attack drones, is underway in Ukraine.
Bodnar said that "The factory will be built. Just a week ago, the government approved the bilateral agreement and sent it to the parliament for ratification, the agreement on the construction of the plant itself."
A piece of land has already been purchased and developed by the company where Baykar sought to build the factory, as "it was almost a personal commitment of the company owners to make this production in Ukraine," said Bodran.
The diplomat also argued that the decision to develop the factory in Ukraine was not only a political decision, "but also practical since a significant part of the models that will be produced at this plant will have components of Ukrainian production," adding that "It can be engines, other spare parts, wheels, many different things that are high-tech in our country and can be used for these aircraft."
Bodran said that Turkey-Ukraine relations are largely driven by defense technology cooperation. He claimed that "Despite the war, our companies continue to fulfill their obligations," adding that "Maybe not in such volumes as it was planned, but they do not leave this work, and it also shows how responsible a partner we are, which does not leave the Turkish side alone with its problems, first of all, in supplying those things that are needed for their defense."
Before the introduction of the American HIMARS, the Bayraktar TB2 drones were without a doubt one of Ukraine's most prized weapons during the early stages of the conflict.
According to Bodnar, the Turkish drones have already become "a legend of our resistance." The Middle East Eye website claimed that Ukraine apparently possessed around 20 drones made by Baykar before the conflict started. Kiev purchased the drones from the firm two years prior to the Ukraine war.
Oleksii Reznikov, the defense minister for Ukraine, claims that since the crisis began on February 24, the nation has received 50 combat drones from Baykar.
Read more: Turkey to provide Ukraine with TB2s for free: Lithuania
