Malaysia, Indonesia Buying Turkish Drones

Malaysia and Indonesia have reportedly expressed an interest in buying armed drones from Turkish defense firm Baykar, Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday.

“Many Asian countries, especially Malaysia and Indonesia, show great interest in our defense industry products. Agreements are being signed,” Cavusoglu told a press conference in Tokyo.

Baykar’s only other production facilities outside Turkey are being built in Ukraine, where Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs helped undermine Russia’s military superiority in the weeks following Moscow’s February invasion.

CEO Haluk Bayraktar, who runs the company with his brother Selcuk who is the chief technology officer (CTO), said last month Baykar had signed export contracts for the TB2 with 22 countries. The company recently delivered 20 armed drones to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this month, as per reports.

Cavusoglu also expressed hopes his country would be able to sell the unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) to Japan. Citing Turkish defense industry sources, a report by Nikkei Asia said a mock-up Turkish “kamikaze” drone called Kargu-2 appeared in a closed exhibition held by the Japanese Military Intelligence School at Camp Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture, with the request coming from the Japanese side.

“If Japan wants to buy any defense industry products from Türkiye, including armed drones, it will be our pleasure to meet the demand,” said Cavusoglu and added that delegations from both sides would meet in the coming days to discuss potential cooperation in defense and security.