Drone technology has been steadily enlarging over the past 30 years, with an increasing demand for uncrewed systems from a number of states and nonstate actors. Earlier this month, Center for a New American Security (CNAS), which is an independent and nonprofit organization that offers research and analysis on the national security and foreign policy discussions in US and abroad, published a new report that covers the global transfers of military-grade aerial drones made between 1995 and Sept. 1, 2023. According to the report, the era of Israeli and American dominance in the drone market has come to an end, as countries like China, Türkiye, and Iran have entered the marketplace, producing and supplying low-cost military drones thus, Türkiye has emerged as the world's largest supplier of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs).
The report also stated that the number of global armed drone transfers has increased with the entrance of Türkiye and China into the military drone marketplace. Since 2018, Türkiye has accounted for 65% of sales, with China contributing 26%, while the U.S. only provided 8%. These transfers include completed and ongoing foreign military sales, as well as direct commercial sales, leases, gifts and secondary proliferation. In the last couple of years, Türkiye has achieved significant progress in the market with the success of the Turkish UCAVs, such as the famed Bayraktar TB2, which has propelled Türkiye to the top of this field. According to the report, the successful performance of Turkish UAVs and UCAVs on the battlefields in Libya, Karabakh and Ukraine, coupled with the positive media coverage of this performance, has propelled them to the top, therefore increasing their global prominence.
As of September 2024, Bayraktar TB2 UAVs are actively serving in the military of six NATO member states and four EU member countries. Since beginning its R&D efforts in the early 2000s, Baykar, the company behind the TB2 drones has generated 83% of its total revenue from exports. Last year, Baykar achieved $1.8 billion in exports, placing them among Türkiye's top 10 exporters across all industries and directly contributed 12.2 billion liras ($358M) to the Turkish economy by taxes and donations. Furthermore, in the last 20 years, the localization rate of the Turkish defense industry has increased from 20% to over 70%, making the defense industry an important building block of the Turkish economy. Ultimately, Türkiye's rapid rise as a dominant global player in the military drone industry, driven by innovative technology and strong export performance, has not only reshaped the global arms market but also bolstered its domestic defense industry and economy.
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