Baykar confirms Akinci deliveries to UAE

A Baykar Akıncı displayed at the IDEX 2023 defence show in Abu Dhabi. (Janes/Akshara Parakala)

The Turkish company Baykar announced on 1 January that it has delivered at least two of its Bayraktar Akıncı twin-engine unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In a statement listing its major achievements in 2024, it said at least one Akinci was delivered to the UAE in January with at least one more delivered in December. In contrast to most of the other deliveries it listed for the year it did not release photographs to show the Akıncıs in the UAE.

The UAE's Akıncı order was not previously announced but Haluk Görgün, the president of Türkiye's Defence Industry Agency, said in October 2023 that Turkish-Emirati co-operation on the UAV and Baykar's smaller Bayraktar TB2 was unprecedented in quantity and quality.

The Baykar statement also noted it had signed a strategic alliance with the UAE's Edge group and carried out test-firings of that company's Desert Sting 16 small guided bomb in January. These developments were announced by Edge at the time, when it released a video showing a Desert Sting 16 being dropped from a TB2 during testing in Türkiye.

Baykar's end-of-year statement also announced that Akıncıs had been delivered to Pakistan in July and Azerbaijan in November, releasing photographs showing the UAVs in those countries. Both Azerbaijan and Pakistan have previously confirmed they had received Akıncıs.

The statement did not mention Akıncı deliveries to Burkina Faso even though that country's president officially handed over at least two to his military on 8 April or Mali, which displayed two in November.