/ACRPSAlbumAssetList/2022-Daily-Images/tukeye-drones.jpg
Strategic Papers 19 September, 2022

Conceptualizing the Rise of Türkiye as a Drone Power

Gloria Shkurti Özdemir

Researcher in the Foreign Affairs Directorate at SETA Foundation and Assistant Editor of Insight Turkey, a journal published by SETA Foundation. She is a doctoral researcher at Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University and her thesis focuses on the application of artificial intelligence in the military by taking the US-China rivalry as a case-study. Her main research interests include drone warfare and artificial intelligence.

email: gshkurti@setav.org

Introduction

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs/drones) have become an indispensable asset in military operations since the beginning of the century. After the end of the Cold War, the US ‒ with its MQ-1 Predator and Reaper drones ‒ was the dominant state (followed by Israel) in terms of the drone manufacturing and use. Using these drones in its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, acrobat Icon this new technology enabled the US to maintain its superpower status unchallenged. However, in recent years, Türkiye has emerged as a rising drone power. Türkiye has been able to successfully incorporate indigenous drones ‒ especially TB2 ‒ in its military operations against the PKK/YPG and the Syrian regime in several cases. However, the success of the Turkish drones was only brought to widespread attention after it changed the dynamics of several conflicts, i.e., Libya, Azerbaijan.

This policy brief will present an overview on the main rationale of the rise and advancement of Turkish drone industry. Furthermore, the study will highlight several case studies of conflicts where Turkish drones have been used to explain the reasons behind their successful application in warfare.