Baykar

Baykar (abbreviation of Bayraktar Kardeşler, English: Bayraktar Brothers) is a family-run Turkish defence company known for its manufacture of the Bayraktar Mini UAV, Bayraktar TB2 and other unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

This article is about Turkish defence company. For Boston-based Armenian-language official organ of the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party, see Baikar.
Baykar
TypeLimited company
PredecessorBaykar Makina
Founded1984
FounderÖzdemir Bayraktar
HeadquartersIstanbul, Turkey
Key people
Özdemir Bayraktar (OB), Selçuk Bayraktar (CTO), Haluk Bayraktar (GM)
Websitebaykardefence.com

History

The company was founded in 1984 as Baykar Makina by Özdemir Bayraktar, with primary goals being production of automotive parts such as engines, pumps and spare parts to ensure the localization of the automotive industry. Established in this direction, Baykar is an engineering company founded with 100% domestic capital. It took steps towards producing unmanned aerial vehicles in 2000s in line with the developments and progress in the aviation sector. Bayraktar Mini UAV was the first unmanned aerial system produced entirely with domestic capital included in the Turkish Armed Forces inventory in 2007. Having launched R&D activities for this purpose, Baykar has realized pioneering productions in its field and by producing subsystems, it has achieved to provide technical support to Turkish national defence industry, as the latter has grown and started exporting weapons including Baykar drones.[1]

Baykar is also developing a flying car which it began testing in 2020.[2][3]

Key people

Özdemir Bayraktar

Baykar's Senior Mechanical Engineer and Chairman of the Board, Özdemir Bayraktar, the father of Selcuk and Haluk Bayraktars, graduated from Istanbul Technical University's Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1972. He then completed a master's degree at the Department of Engines, with a focus on internal combustion engines. He had positions in many companies that played a leading role in Turkey's industrial sector (Burdur Tractors, Istanbul Retaining Ring Uzel, etc.). In 1984, he took part in the establishment of Baykar Makina to indigenize what was then Turkey's highly import-dependent automotive industry. At Baykar, he directed many unique machining and manufacturing apparatus design processes for the precision machining sector. He then started to play a pioneering role in Baykar's development of indigenous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle technology, implementing these projects from design to prototype, and subsequently from manufacturing stages to further R&D. He has a private pilot's license.[4] According to opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper, he had a religiously conservative background but despite disdainful relations at the time between pious groups and the army, he had ties with several military figures and worked on Turkish Armed Forces projects in the 1990s.[5]

Selçuk Bayraktar

Baykar's Chief Technical Officer, Selçuk Bayraktar, was born in 1979 in Istanbul. After attending the prestigious Robert College high school, Selcuk Bayraktar studied electrical engineering at Istanbul Technical University, graduating in 2002. He then pursued an internship at University of Pennsylvania, later obtaining a master's degree in engineering from the same university. Bayraktar went on to study for a second master's degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he worked on unmanned helicopter systems. He returned to Turkey in 2007 before graduating, to work at Baykar. Bayraktar called on Turkish officials to invest in drone technology in 2005. “If Turkey supports this project, these drones, then in five years it can easily be at the forefront of the world in this field” Bayraktar said in 2005. He has been hailed as a pioneer of what Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan calls Ankara's rapidly developing “local and national” defence sector. Bayraktar married Erdoğan's daughter Sümeyye in 2016.[6]

Haluk Bayraktar

Baykar's general manager, Haluk Bayraktar has received an undergraduate degree from METU Industrial Engineering in 2000 and completed his master's degree in the same field at Columbia University in 2002. In 2004, he started his doctoral studies in Business Administration at Boğaziçi University. In the same period, he worked as an engineer manager in the project design stages of the works for the development of National and Unique Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems within the family company, involved in conceptual design, prototype, testing, production, training and business stages. In 2018, he was elected as the Chairman of the Board of SAHA Istanbul Defense and Aviation Cluster amd a member of the TUBITAK Board of Directors in 2018. He is currently the general manager of Baykar.[7]

Criticism and controversies

Baykar's drones have been seen action in 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, where they aided the Azerbaijani army to displace armed forces of Artsakh and Armenia from their positions.[8] Domestic drone manufacturing previously relied on imported and regulated components and technologies such as the engines from Austria (manufactured by Rotax), fuels systems (manufactured by Andair) and missile rack (manufactured by EDO MBM[9] in UK, optoelectronics (FLIR sensors imported from Wescam in Canada or Hensoldt in Germany). Engines exports were halted when Canadian Bombardier, owner of Rotax, became aware of the military use of their recreational aircraft engines.[10] In October 2020 Canadian Wescam (optics and sensors) exports were restricted by the Canadian Foreign Ministry.[11] After learning that their products were utilised to create combat drones, Hampshire-based UK aircraft manufacturer Andair announced the discontinuation of all sales to Baykar Makina on 11 January 2020.[12] The British manufacturer became the latest company to stop selling equipment to Turkey after its components were found in drones shot down during the Nagorno-Karabakh war.[13]

Turkish industry responded to foreign sales boycotts by announcing provision of domestically manufactured alternatives to Baykar - PD170 motor (Turkish Aerospace Industries),[14][15] optical camera (Aselsan CATS system),[16] and fuel valve (Aselsan).[17] Turkish defense industry researcher Kadir Doğan tweeted that cancellation of sales of components to Baykar by foreign companies did not pose a major problem, and that as of January 2021 all those components have been replaced by locally manufactured alternatives [18]

In December 2020, two Russian journalists were arrested in Turkey for filming near a Baykar drone facility.[19]

References
  1. "Turkey's Plan to Keep Aerospace Defense Forces Soaring". Defense News. 2020-12-15. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  2. "Turkey's first 'flying car' tested by defence company Baykar". Ahval. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  3. "Flying car". Baykar. Retrieved 2021-02-02. The Cezeri Flying Car, will make a radical change by providing totally Green urban air transport.
  4. "Ozdemir Bayraktar". Baykar Defence. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  5. Terkoğlu, Baris (2019-07-25). "Hangi damat: Berat mı, Selçuk mu?". Cumhuryet (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2021-01-16. Retrieved 2021-01-16. Ozdemir Bayraktar had warm ties with a number of military figures and worked on Turkish Armed Forces projects during the 1990s.
  6. "Name in the News: Selcuk Bayraktar, Turkey's armed drone pioneer". BBC Monitoring. BBC. 2020-03-10. Archived from the original on 2021-01-16. Retrieved 2021-01-16. He has been hailed as a pioneer of what Erdogan calls Ankara's rapidly developing “local and national” defence sector.
  7. "Haluk Bayraktar" (in Turkish). Baykar. Archived from the original on 2020-01-20. Retrieved 2021-01-20. Haluk Bayraktar - general manager
  8. "Arms for Azerbaijan: Turkish Baykar TB2 Drones Enter the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict". Al Bawaba. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  9. Sabbagh, Dan; McKernan, Bethan (2020-11-27). "Revealed: how UK technology fuelled Turkey's rise to global drone power". The Guardian. Retrieved 2021-01-20. While the armed Bayraktar TB2 drones are manufactured by a Turkish company, they could not have been developed without the Hornet missile rack, which was devised and supplied by EDO MBM Technology
  10. Levon Sevunts (25 October 2020). "Bombardier Recreational Products suspends delivery of aircraft engines used on military drones". CBC.
  11. TM (17 October 2020). "Canadian decision to halt tech exports exposes key weakness in Turkish drone industry".
  12. Phillips, Owen (2021-01-11). "Cessation of supply to Baykar Makina" (Press release). Hampshire, UK: Andair. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2021-01-14. After investigation, Andair immediately halted supply and cancelled all orders from Baykar Makina
  13. "UK supplier stops sales of parts to Turkey's drone programme". The National News. The National (Abu Dhabi). 2021-01-14. Archived from the original on 2021-01-16. Retrieved 2021-01-16. Parts found in aerial weapons shot down during Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
  14. https://www.defenceturk.net/ingiliz-andair-sirketi-bayraktar-tb2-sihalara-parca-tedarikini-durdurdu. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. https://www.trthaber.com/haber/gundem/gokyuzunun-yeni-oyuncusu-yerli-motorla-gelecek-527093.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. "Turkey announced local production of optical cameras".
  17. "Turkey announced to produce locally made air fuel pump after export halt by Andair".
  18. "All halted components are replaced by domestical variants".
  19. "Russian Journalists Held in Turkey for Filming Near Baykar Drone Facility". www.defenseworld.net. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
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