Baykar is a private Turkish defence company specialising in

UAVs An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...

C4I Command and control (abbr. C2) is a "set of organizational and technical attributes and processes ... hatemploys human, physical, and information resources to solve problems and accomplish missions" to achieve the goals of an organization or en ...

and

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

Name

Baykar is a portmanteau of the words Bayraktar Kardeşler ( en, Bayraktar Brothers). The company presently operates under the names "Baykar Teknoloji" () and "Baykar Makina Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş." ()

History

The company was founded in 1984 as Baykar Makina, a

CNC Numerical control (also computer numerical control, and commonly called CNC) is the automated control of machining tools (such as drills, lathes, mills, grinders, routers and 3D printers) by means of a computer. A CNC machine processes a p ...

precision machining supplier subcontractor by Özdemir Bayraktar, with the 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 vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

s in 2000s in line with the developments and progress in the aviation sector.

Bayraktar Mini UAV Bayraktar Mini UAV is a miniature UAV produced by Turkish company Baykar. Development With the concept of short range day and night aerial reconnaissance and surveillance applications, system design activities started within 2004. Initial prot ...

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. Baykar's portfolio of advanced UAVs includes Bayraktar Tactical UAS (Bayraktar TB1), Bayraktar TB2 UCAV, Bayraktar Akıncı UCAV. It is also developing a flying car ( quadricopter) which it started testing in 2020. The car called Cezeri and weighing 230 kilograms, rose 10 metres above the ground in the tests carried out in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

in September 2020. In 2021, the Ukrainian military for the first time in the

War in Donbas War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

used a Bayraktar strike drone ''Bayraktar TB2.'' In June 2022, the "

People's Bayraktar People's Bayraktar ( uk, Народний Байрактар, Narodnyy Bayraktar) was a series of fund-raising projects for the purchase of the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Fundraising projects for ...

" fundraising project was launched in Ukraine, which managed fundraise in three over UAH 600 million to purchase three

Bayraktar TB2 The Bayraktar TB2 is a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations. It is manufactured by the Turkish company Baykar Makina Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş ...

Key people

The company has been led by Özdemir Bayraktar until his death and his sons - Selçuk and Haluk

Özdemir Bayraktar

Baykar's Senior

Mechanical Engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

and

Chairman of the Board The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

Özdemir Bayraktar, graduated from

Istanbul Technical University Istanbul Technical University ( tr, İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, commonly referred to as ITU or The Technical University) is an international technical university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the world's third-oldest technical universit ...

's Department of

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

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. In 2004, he decided to move on to

UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...

production with his son Selçuk, who at the time was pursuing a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degree on unmanned aerial systems in

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

. 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 also had a private pilot's license. According to opposition ''

Cumhuriyet ''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: " Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Pres ...

'' 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 late 1990s. He was awarded the Order of Karabakh by Azerbaijani President

Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar oghlu Aliyev ( az, İlham Heydər oğlu Əliyev, ; born 24 December 1961) is the fourth president of Azerbaijan, serving in the post since 31 October 2003. The son and second child of the former Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev, ...

in April 2021 for his "contribution to the liberation of Karabakh from the occupation of Armenia" by Bayraktar TB2 drones. He died on 18 October 2021 at the age of 72 in Istanbul.

Selçuk Bayraktar

Baykar's Chief Technical Officer,

Selçuk Bayraktar Selçuk Bayraktar (born 7 October 1979) is a Turkish engineer and businessman. He is the chairman of the board and the chief technology officer of the Turkish technology company Baykar. He is also known as the architect of Turkey's first indi ...

, was born in 1979 in

. After attending the prestigious

Robert College The American Robert College of Istanbul ( tr, İstanbul Özel Amerikan Robert Lisesi or ), often shortened to Robert, or RC, is a Selective school, highly selective, Independent school, independent, mixed-sex education, co-educational Secondary ...

high school, Selcuk Bayraktar studied

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

, graduating in 2002. He then pursued an internship at

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, later obtaining a master's degree in

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

from the same university. Bayraktar went on to study for a Ph.D. degree at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT), where he worked on unmanned helicopter systems. He completed his master's at MIT in 2006 with a thesis title
Aggressive landing maneuvers for unmanned aerial vehicles
He returned to Turkey in 2007 cutting his Ph.D. studies short 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 Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...

calls Ankara's rapidly developing “local and national” defence sector. Bayraktar married Erdoğan's daughter Sümeyye in 2016.

Haluk Bayraktar

Baykar's

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

, Haluk Bayraktar has received an undergraduate degree from

METU Middle East Technical University (commonly referred to as METU; in Turkish, ''Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi'', ODTÜ) is a public technical university located in Ankara, Turkey. The university emphasizes research and education in engineering a ...

Industrial Engineering in 2000 and completed his master's degree in the same field at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 2002. In 2004, he started his doctoral studies in Business Administration at

Boğaziçi University Boğaziçi University ( tr, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi), also known as Bosphorus University, is a major research university in Istanbul, Turkey. Its main campus is located on the European side of the Bosphorus, Bosphorus strait. It has six facult ...

. 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 and a member of the

TUBITAK The Scientific and Technological Research Institution of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu, TÜBİTAK) is a national agency of Turkey whose stated goal is to develop "science, technology and innovation" (STI) policies ...

Board of Directors in 2018.

Products

Baykar Bayraktar Mini UAV Bayraktar Mini UAV is a miniature UAV produced by Turkish company Baykar. Development With the concept of short range day and night aerial reconnaissance and surveillance applications, system design activities started within 2004. Initial prot ...

Baykar Bayraktar TB1 The Bayraktar UAV or Bayraktar UCAV is a family of unmanned aerial vehicles designed and manufactured by Turkish company Baykar. The UAVs were developed for the Turkish Armed Forces from 2004 until the present. Some models are designed for surve ...

Baykar Bayraktar TB2 The Bayraktar TB2 is a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations. It is manufactured by the Turkish company Baykar Makina Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş ...

Baykar Bayraktar Akıncı Bayraktar Akıncı (, Raider lit. "Akinji") is a high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) being manufactured by the Turkish defence company Baykar. The first three units entered service with the Turkish Armed For ...

Baykar Bayraktar TB3 The Baykar Bayraktar TB3 is a Turkish medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) capable of short-range landing and take-off, produced by Baykar. It is currently being developed due to the lack of aircraft to be d ...

Baykar Bayraktar Kızılelma The Baykar Bayraktar Kızılelma (English: ''Red Apple'') is a jet-powered, single-engine, low-observable, carrier-capable unmanned combat aerial vehicle, currently in development by Turkish defence company Baykar. The aircraft is being devel ...

International boycott

Baykar's drones have been used in

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict in 2020 that took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, the surrounding territories. It was a major escalation of ...

by the

Azerbaijani army The Azerbaijani Armed Forces ( az, Azərbaycan Silahlı Qüvvələri) were re-established according to the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the Armed Forces from 9 October 1991. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) had originally formed ...

which resulted in a series of boycotts from international companies whom Baykar used to buy products from. Domestic drone manufacturing before that war relied on imported and regulated components and technologies such as the engines from

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

(manufactured by

Rotax Rotax is the brand name for a range of internal combustion engines developed and manufactured by the Austrian company BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG (until 2016 BRP-Powertrain GmbH & Co. KG), in turn owned by the Canadian Bombardier Recreational Product ...

), fuel systems (manufactured by Andair) and missile rack (manufactured by EDO MBM) from the UK, optoelectronics (FLIR sensors imported from

Wescam L3Harris Wescam, stylized as L3Harris WESCAM, is a Canadian company specializing in the production of gyroscope, gyro-stabilized, Image sensor, EO-Thermography, IR imaging systems. Wescam Inc. is a subsidiary of L3Harris Technologies. The name ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Hensoldt Hensoldt AG ''(HENSOLDT)'' is a multinational corporation headquartered in Germany which focuses on sensor technologies for protection and surveillance missions in the Military, defence, security and aerospace sectors. The main product areas are r ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

). Engines exports were halted when Canadian Bombardier, owner of

, became aware of the military use of their recreational aircraft engines. In October 2020 Canadian Wescam (optics and sensors) exports were restricted by the Canadian Foreign Ministry. After learning that their products were utilised to create combat drones,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

-based UK aircraft manufacturer Andair announced the discontinuation of all sales to Baykar Makina on 11 January 2020. 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. Turkish industry responded to foreign sales boycotts by announcing provision of domestically manufactured alternatives to Baykar - PD170 motor (

Turkish Aerospace Industries Turkish Aerospace Inc. ( tr, Türk Havacılık ve Uzay Sanayi A.Ş., TUSAŞ) is the center of technology in design, development, manufacturing, integration of aerospace systems, modernization and after sales support in Turkey. Located in Ankara ...

), optical camera ( Aselsan CATS system), and fuel valve ( Aselsan). 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.

References

Gallery

{{Gallery , title=Baykar , width=250, height=250 , align=center , footer= , File:ISTANBUL DHA GOZCU1.jpg , alt1=Bayraktar Mini UAV ,

, File:Bayraktar During Sun rise.jpg , alt2=A Bayraktar Tactical UAS seen via its tail camera ,

Bayraktar Tactical UAS The Bayraktar UAV or Bayraktar UCAV is a family of unmanned aerial vehicles designed and manufactured by Turkish company Baykar. The UAVs were developed for the Turkish Armed Forces from 2004 until the present. Some models are designed for surve ...

viewed from its tail camera , File:Bayraktar TB2 Runway.jpg , alt3=Bayraktar TB2 UCAV ,

UCAV , File:Baykar UAV Team.jpg , alt4=Baykar UAV Team , Baykar UAV Team , File:Bayraktar Akıncı UCAV.jpg , alt5=Baykar Akinci UCAV ,

Bayraktar Akıncı Bayraktar may refer to: *Bayraktar (surname) *Bayraktar, Bayburt, a village in Turkey *Bayraktar UAV, a brand of Turkish drone **Bayraktar (song), Ukraine, 2022, about the UAV in the Russian invasion * ''Bayraktar''-class tank landing ship, Turki ...

UCAV , , alt6=Baykar Bayraktar Kızılelma ,

UCAV , File:BaykarCezeri Teknofest2019 (5).jpg , alt7=Baykar Cezeri quadrocopter ,

Baykar Cezeri Cezeri is a quadcopter developed by Baykar Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems Co. in Turkey. It was named after Ismail al-Jazari (1136–1206), a Muslim polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, artisan, artist and mathematician from J ...

quadrocopter

External links

Baykar Tech
Unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturers of Turkey Defence companies of Turkey Aircraft manufacturers of Turkey Aerospace companies of Asia Aerospace companies of Europe Manufacturing companies based in Istanbul