Aviation Kuwait to buy drones worth $367m from Turkey By Reuters June 14, 2023 Reuters/NurPhoto/Diego Cupolo People take photos of the Baykar Bayraktar TB3 drone at Teknofest 2023 in Istanbul on April 29, 2023 Kuwait has concluded a contract worth $367 million with Turkish defence firm Baykar to buy its TB2 drones through direct negotiations between the two governments, the Kuwaiti army said. A statement did not reveal how many drones would be delivered to Kuwait or when. International demand for Baykar’s TB2 drones soared after they featured in conflicts in Syria, Libya and Azerbaijan. Interest in them increased further following their use by Ukraine’s military to thwart Russian forces. Kuwait will be the 28th country in the world to conclude a contract for the Bayraktar TB2 drones. In April, Baykar chairman Selcuk Bayraktar said that the company aims to begin production of its new unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) next year which is already attracting international interest. Named Kizilelma, the drone expands the company’s product range from slow, ground attack drones to fast and agile autonomous ones that work alongside fighter jets. “It is designed to be a highly autonomous, under human purview of course, air-to-air combat vehicle” said Bayraktar, who led the design of the 15-metre-long jet-powered UCAV.
