Bayraktar

In the 1990s, Haluk Byrachta was a Turkish engineer with no defense contracts. The Turkish military wanted armed drones. Every option came from America or Israel and cost 10 to 40 million dollars per unit. They were not accessible to most buyers. Byrachta decided to build one from existing parts, assembled differently. The Byrachta TB2 cost roughly 5 million dollars. It was slower than American drones and had shorter range, but it was three times cheaper. A country could afford 10 TB2s for the price of one predator. Turkey sold them to Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Somalia and dozens of others. By 2022, when Ukraine received them, they had become famous.