13 April 2022

Slovakia considers Bayraktar buy from Turkey

by Gareth Jennings

The Bayraktar TB2 has earned a reputation as a highly capable platform during recent conflicts, including Ukraine. Slovakia has demonstrated its interest in the Turkish-built system. (Baykar)

Slovakia is discussing with Turkey a potential procurement of the Baykar Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), it was disclosed on 13 April.

The Minister of Defence of the Slovak Republic, Jaro Nad, made the announcement on his official Twitter account, saying that talks with the manufacturer Baykar, which he euphemistically referred to as ‘Mr Bayraktar', were progressing as part of a wider plan to acquire international unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) for the Slovaki Armed Forces.

“Works on acquiring drones for the Slovak military [are] moving forward,” he said. “Good talk today with Mr Bayraktar from Turkey, and discussions with other drone producers [are] ongoing.” The tweet was illustrated with a model of the Bayraktar UCAV in Slovakian markings.

Slovakia does not field an unmanned aircraft capability, though this was a gap was identified by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in its 2016 White Paper for Defence. Priorities laid out in this plan included new command-and-control systems for such air vehicles.

The Bayraktar TB2 that Slovakia is specifically considering is a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAV, which was developed to provide the Turkish Armed Forces with a tactical intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance capability. According to Janes All the World's Aircraft: Unmanned

Slovakia is discussing with Turkey a potential procurement of the Baykar Bayraktar TB2 unmanned comb...

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