Turkish defense contractor Baykar has started building a factory near Kyiv that will employ around 500 people and where it will manufacture either its TB2 or TB3 drones, the company’s chief executive told Reuters.
Turkish-made Bayraktar drones have gained prominence globally after being used by Ukraine’s military to thwart Russian forces by destroying armored vehicles and artillery systems.
Baykar said it has signed export deals for its TB2 drone with 30 countries. These include Ukraine, Ethiopia, Libya and Azerbaijan since 2018, according to think tank SIPRI.
“Our factory is being built. … We need about 12 months to finish construction and then we will move on to equipment and organizational structure,” Baykar CEO Haluk Bayraktar said on the sidelines of the World Defense Show in Riyadh.
“The factory in Ukraine is a big one, we are planning to employ around 500 people,” he said.
Bayraktar noted that the plant would have the capacity to produce around 120 units a year, but said it was still not clear whether production at the Ukrainian factory would focus on the TB2 or TB3 drone.
Asked if security issues related to the ongoing conflict would pose a concern for the plant, he said plans were “moving ahead” and that “nothing” could stop them.
Bayraktar also said the Istanbul-based firm’s plans to start production in Saudi Arabia in the next two years were on track.
The announcement follows an agreement in July to sell the Bayraktar Akıncı, another kind of drone, to Saudi Arabia in what Baykar described as the biggest defense contract in Turkey’s history.
Other defense contractors at the event are also announcing deals with Riyadh. On Monday US weapons maker Lockheed Martin signed agreements for Saudi Arabian companies to manufacture parts of its missile defense system.
Bayraktar said that looking at the current year, the company planned to double domestic production of the Akıncı, which stood at 36 units in 2023, while TB2 output would stay unchanged at 230 units.
It also aims to produce the new models of the Kızılelma and TB3 drones “in the tens,” he added.