Akinci UAVs deployed to eastern Libya

LAAF leader Khalifa Haftar (left) greets Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan in Benghazi on 12 August. (General Command of the Libyan Arab Armed Forces )

At least two Bayraktar Akıncı unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been deployed to Al-Khadim in eastern Libya in another apparent reflection of growing Turkish influence in Benghazi.

Vantor satellite imagery from 8 August shows the two Akıncıs in the open at the airbase, which is controlled by the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) that dominates the east of the country. A probable satellite communications (SATCOM) antenna, which is needed to operate the Akıncıs at long ranges, appeared in an area used for UAV ground-control equipment between 6-7 August.

The previously deployed ground-control equipment included mobile and tower-mounted ground data terminals (GDTs) used to control UAVs made by Baykar Technologies, the Turkish manufacturer of the Akinci and the Bayraktar TB2, a smaller model that does not have a SATCOM capability.

Vantor satellite imagery showed two TB2s at Al-Khadim on 17 December 2025, but these likely arrived earlier in the year as the mobile GDT's were deployed between 14-17 July 2025. The GDT tower was then built in October-November 2025.

Work on an underground facility also began at Al-Khadim in October 2025. The UN Panel of Experts on Libya report released in April identified this as the same type of facility that was already being built for Bayraktar UAVs at the airbases in Tripoli and Misrata in western Libya. It implied this was evidence of increased Turkish support for the LAAF.

Both the TB2 and Akıncı are also in service with the rival military in Western Libya, which received extensive Turkish support to defeat a major LAAF offensive in 2019-2020.