“With our Akinci drone, Turkey becomes one of the three most advanced countries in the world in this kind of technology.” This was stated by Turkish President Erdogan, on the occasion of the presentation of the new Bayraktar Akinci combat drone. Erdogan added that Turkey aims to become a global leader in the production of autonomous aircraft. The Akinci drone has so far carried out 874 test flights and on July 5, in a test that put its combat skills to the test, it accurately hit the targets that had been assigned to it.
Over the past twelve years, the Turkish military industry has become a major player in the field of unmanned aircraft. In an article published in Repubblica in December 2020, the journalist Gabriella Colarusso wrote in this regard: “Turkey began developing remotely piloted aircraft in the early 2000s – first for surveillance and intelligence missions, then by arming them – when realized that it could hardly have obtained them from foreign countries such as the United States or Israel. Over time it has become an important player in the market, and is a candidate to compete with China also for exports to Africa, the Middle East, Asia, where the stricter rules for military exports prevent the United States from conquering the market “.
In 2021, Turkey sold its drones for the first time to a NATO country, Poland, which ordered 24.