Selcuk Bayraktar, chief technology officer of Turkey’s drone powerhouse Baykar, said on Thursday that Turkish companies now control 65 percent of the worldwide market for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
Baykar commands nearly 60 percent of the market all by itself.
Bayraktar credited cooperation between Baykar and the Turkish government for the company’s rapid rise to dominance of UAV technology. Selcuk Bayraktar happens to be married to the daughter of Turkey’s authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“In 2004, Baykar developed Turkey’s first robotic guidance system and the first mini-UAV when UAVs were not yet known in the world,” he recalled.
More breakthroughs followed, including an air combat UAV called the Kizilelma, which Baykar delivered to the Turkish government a year ahead of schedule
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