Turkey-Ukraine Ink New Deal to Expand Joint Drone Production

Turkey and Ukraine inked a fresh deal aimed at expanding drone production in Ukraine besides signing the ‘historic’ free trade agreement (FTA) on Thursday.

The FTA will reduce barriers in trade and help them reach a bilateral trade volume of $10 billion, a goal set by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Also read: Ukrainian Military Deploys Turkish-made Bayraktar Drone in Donbas

"Signing of the free trade agreement between Ukraine and Turkey is a historic event," Zelenskyy said in a joint press conference alongside Erdoğan.

In total, eight agreements were signed on February 3.

Zelenskyy said the drone agreement will “significantly expand” the production of the aircraft that are manufactured by Baykar.

Also read: Ukraine's Ivchenko-Progress Selected as Engine Supplier for Turkish MIUS Drone Project

Kyiv has procured several Bayraktar TB2 combat drones in its inventory and has placed an order for warships.

As per Turkish media, land is said to have already been allocated for the project, while the drones are expected to use engines made in Ukraine.