UAE to buy large number of Turkish TB2 Bayraktar drones

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The United Arab Emirates is in negotiations with Turkey to make a major drone purchase from Turkish company Baykar, two sources close to the negotiations told Middle East Eye.

Read next: 24 states request to purchase Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones

Emirati arms procurement agency, Tawazun, has its companies negotiating with Baykar to purchase the Bayraktar TB2 drones since March, according to the sources.

The drones have a cemented track record against targets in Libya, Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh; however, their efficiency has not been proven yet against an army with sophisticated electronic warfare advantages and top-tier air defense systems until the war in Ukraine started, where they were used by Ukrainian forces.

Read more: Turkish Bayraktar drones factory is being built in Ukraine - Official

One source said that 120 TB2 Bayraktars are in negotiation scope. “They will come with a package of ammunition, command and control centers, and training. Together it could be a deal of up to $2bn,” the source said.

If the deal passes, Baykar's plant in the UAE will be producing some of the compartments of the drone. 

Each Bayraktar drone, according to an insider, costs $5 million - however, each aircraft needs 100 MAM-L smart micro munitions, which would raise the price to $15 million. Training is also an additional expense, in addition to command-and-control centers. Each center can control up to six drones. 

Baykar as a company is connected to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan; one of the company's top engineers is married to Sumeyye, Erdogan's daughter.

Last month, Bayraktar's CEO, Haluk Bayraktar, said the company has a three-year-long accumulation of orders that they will have to attend to, and that Bayraktar can only produce 20 Bayraktar TB2s a month. 

Turkey and the UAE have recently been mending relationships.

In February, Erdogan visited the UAE for the first time in what nearly amounted to a decade in a bid to kick-start their ties once again after they had been strained due to regional disputes.

The conflict between Ankara and Abu Dhabi has been over Libya and the Gulf, as they each backed opposing sides to the Libyan conflict and a diplomatic crisis in the Gulf, not to mention a dispute over gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.

The tensions simmered down following UAE de facto ruler Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan's visit to Ankara in November, which had been the Gulf state's first high-level visit to Turkey since 2012.

Speaking about the trip that took place a few months ago at the airport before departing to Abu Dhabi, Erdogan told reporters it "marked the beginning of a new era in relations."

Following Al Nahyan's visit to Ankara, the UAE announced a $10 billion fund for investments in Turkey, amid a devastating inflation crisis that has ravaged the country, reaching a near 20-year high in January.