ANKARA: Turkish defense establishment Baykar has delivered 20 fortified drones to the United Arab Emirates this month and could vend more, two Turkish sources said, as a political conflict between the former indigenous rivals expands into military contracts.
transnational demand for Baykar’s drones soared after their impact on conflicts in Syria, Ukraine, and Libya, where their ray-guided armor-piercing losers helped repel a descent by UAE-supported forces two times agone.
That civil war in Libya was one of several theatres where the two countries played out a bitter, decade-long battle for influence in the Middle East, until a conciliation last time.
Now the UAE and its supporter Saudi Arabia are hoping to work for their fellowship with Turkiye to fight a growing security challenge from Iran and its makeshift forces, military sources say.
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Both Gulf Arab oil painting countries have faced drone attacks on metropolises and oil painting installations that they criticized Iran- aligned Houthi fighters in Yemen.
A source with knowledge of the addresses said Abu Dhabi and Riyadh were negotiating to acquire Bayraktar TB2 drones from Ankara. “They decided during the accommodations with the UAE to snappily deliver 20 fortified drones,” the source said, adding they were transferred before this month.
An elderly Turkish functionary verified Turkiye has delivered some drones to the United Arab Emirates and that the UAE was seeking further. Saudi Arabia also wanted to buy fortified drones and set up a plant to manufacture them, the functionary said.
The functionary said Baykar was considering the Saudi request for a manufacturing factory but said that was a strategic decision for President Tayyip Erdogan and that other issues, similar to Saudi investments in Turkiye, “are not moving as presto as possible”.
Baykar, the UAE foreign ministry, and Saudi Arabia’s government dispatches office didn’t respond to a request for comment.
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