Bangladesh will purchase the popular Turkish Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs), which became one of the highlights of Ukraine’s fight in the face of the Russian invasion.
The Bangladeshi government signed an agreement to purchase the UCAVs, Prothom Alo cited Turkey’s Ambassador to Bangladesh Mustafa Osman Tufan as saying.
The envoy noted that the Bangladesh Armed Forces signed an agreement with Baykar Technology, the manufacturer of Bayraktar.
“I'm not in a position to give details, but I can confirm that there is cooperation between Bangladesh and Turkey regarding drones," Tufan said.
In 2021, Mosud Mannan, the Bangladeshi envoy in Turkey, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that his country was considering purchasing Turkish drones.
The South Asian country previously purchased mine protection vehicles, multidimensional rocket defense systems and armored vehicles from Turkey as part of a bilateral defense cooperation deal.
Ukraine's destruction of Russian artillery systems and armored vehicles with Turkish Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) has made "the whole world" a customer, according to its designer.
Selçuk Bayraktar, who runs the Istanbul firm Baykar with his brother Haluk, said the drones had shown how technology revolutionized modern warfare.
The TB2, which has a 12-meter (40-foot) wingspan and can soar to 25,000 feet before swooping in to destroy tanks and artillery with laser-guided armor-piercing bombs, helped undermine Russia's overwhelming military superiority.
Baykar, founded in the 1980s by Bayraktar's late father, Özdemir Bayraktar, began to focus on unmanned aircraft in 2005 as Turkey sought to strengthen its local defense industry.
The TB2 has been such a decisive factor in the conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Karabakh, and now Ukraine that it spearheads Turkey's global defense export push.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says international demand is huge for the TB2 and the newer Akıncı.
Bayraktar said Baykar can produce 200 TB2 drones a year.
Turkey and Bangladesh are partners in the D-8 organization. In April 2021, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu handed over Turkey's term presidency of the D-8 Council of Foreign Ministers to Bangladesh.
Bayraktar TB2 drone previously hit the headlines due to its successful use in Libya, Syria and Azerbaijan-Armenia wars. Recently, its role in the Russia-Ukraine war drew the attention of military analysts.