Saudi Arabia Signs Deal To Buy Turkish Combat Drone
Turkish drone maker Baykar has signed a deal with the Saudi Defense Ministry to sell its Akinci combat drone to Saudi Arabia, according to Baykar’s CEO Haluk Bayraktar.
The deal came as one of many agreements signed on Monday between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Saudi city of Jeddah. According to the Anadolou Agency, the agreements covered cooperation between the two countries on investment, defense, energy, and communications.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman Al Saud said that Saudi Arabia bought the drone “with the aim of enhancing the readiness of the kingdom’s armed forces and bolstering its defense and manufacturing capabilities.”
The Akinci is a high-altitude, long-endurance combat unmanned aerial vehicle with artificial intelligence avionics, able to perform air-to-ground and air-to-air missions usually carried out by fighter jets, Baykar explained.
Saudi Arabia is just one stop on Erdoğan’s three-day Gulf tour, whose goal is to ease tense relations and secure financial agreements with states in the region.
