Özdemir Bayraktar (1949 - 18 October 2021) was a Turkish engineer and entrepreneur. He founded the Turkish private defense company

Baykar Baykar is a private Turkish defence company specialising in UAVs, C4I and artificial intelligence. Name Baykar is a portmanteau of the words Bayraktar Kardeşler (''Bayraktar Brothers''). The company presently operates under the names "Bayk ...

and was its Chairman of the Board of Directors until his death in 2021. Bayraktar also contributed heavily to Turkey's

UCAV An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, fighter drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance and carries aircr ...

industry, as a lead designer of the

Baykar Bayraktar TB2 Bayraktar TB2 ( Turkish: ''Standard-bearer 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 Ba ...

and the architect of the

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 Forc ...

Early life

Özdemir Bayraktar was born in 1949 in the Garipçe neighborhood of

Sarıyer Sarıyer () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 177 km2 and its population is 350,454 (2022). It is on the northeastern part of Istanbul's European side. Sarıyer al ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. His father was Lütfi Reis of

Sürmene Sürmene (; , ''Sourmena''; , romanized as ''Sürmena e') is a municipality and district of Trabzon Province, Turkey. Its area is 166 km2, and its population is 25,950 (2022). In ancient times the town of Hyssus or Hyssos () was nearby. The ...

. He graduated from Kabataş Boys High School in Istanbul in 1967 and graduated from

Istanbul Technical University Istanbul Technical University, also known as Technical University of Istanbul (, commonly referred to as İTÜ), is an public university, public technical university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the world's third-oldest technical university ...

's Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1972. He later graduated with a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

from ITU's Department of Engines.

Career

Bayraktar started his career as an engineer focusing on

internal combustion engines An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal comb ...

. He worked at several of Turkey's leading industrial companies, including Burdur Tractors and Istanbul Retaining Ring Uzel. In 1984, Bayraktar founded the company Baykar Makina, a

subcontractor A subcontractor is a person or business which undertakes to perform part or all of the obligations of another's contract, and a subcontract is a contract which assigns part of an existing contract to a subcontractor. A general contractor, prime ...

supplier of CNC precision machines which aimed to manufacture and sell automobile parts such as engines, pumps, and spare parts. The company began working with the

Turkish military The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; , TSK) are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. The TAF consist of the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Forces. The Chief of the General Staff is the Commander of the Armed Forces. In wartime, ...

in the 1990s. In 2004, while assisting his son Selçuk with his

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

PhD dissertation A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

unmanned aerial vehicles An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...

, he made the decision to begin focusing Baykar's efforts on designing UCAVs. Bayraktar contributed to Selçuk's design of the Bayraktar TB2, based on the Bayraktar TB1 prototype, which had its first flight in August 2014. He later designed the Bayraktar Akıncı which flew for the first time in December 2019.

Personal life and death

Bayraktar married Canan Bayraktar, a graduate of

Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

Faculty of Economics. The couple had three sons together. Bayraktar's eldest son, Haluk, later became

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

and President of Baykar, while his middle son,

Selçuk Selçuk is a municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 317 km2, and its population is 38,151 (2022). The town Selçuk is located northeast of the ancient city of Ephesus, that was once home to the Temple of Artemis, o ...

, later became CTO and Chairman of the Board of Baykar. He held a private pilot's license. On 1 April 2021, he was awarded the Karabakh Order by Azerbaijani president

Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar Oghlu Aliyev (born 24 December 1961) is an Azerbaijani politician who has been the fourth president of Azerbaijan since 2003. He is also the leader of the New Azerbaijan Party since 2005. The son and second child of former Aze ...

for his "contribution to the liberation of Karabakh from the occupation of Armenia". Özdemir Bayraktar died on 18 October 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayraktar, Özdemir 1949 births 2021 deaths Baykar people Kabataş Erkek Lisesi alumni People from Sarıyer Engineers from Istanbul Businesspeople from Istanbul 20th-century Turkish businesspeople 21st-century Turkish businesspeople 20th-century Turkish engineers 21st-century Turkish engineers