Baykar General Manager Haluk Bayraktar (2nd L) and İvchenko Progress General Manager İgor F. Kravchenko (2nd R) at SAHA EXPO, Istanbul, Turkey, Nov. 12, 2021. (AA Photo)
Turkey’s drone magnate Baykar has signed a contract with the Ivchenko-Progress, one of the leading engine companies in Ukraine for the procurement of engines for its Combat Unmanned Aircraft System (MIUS) project, according to a company statement Friday.
The deal was signed between the parties at the SAHA EXPO Defense and Aviation Hybrid Fair organized by SAHA Istanbul.
Ivchenko-Progress will supply the AI-322F Turbofan engine for MIUS under the agreement.
MUIS will be jet-powered, with a payload of up to 1.5 tons. The autonomously maneuvering craft will be capable of operating in tandem with piloted aircraft and may carry air-to-air missiles.
Haluk Bayraktar, CEO at Baykar, said that Ukraine and Turkey are two strategic partners, noting that his company’s Akıncı Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was already powered by the AI-450 engine of Ivchenko Progress.
“With the new contract, we will install the AI-322F engine, produced jointly by Ivchenko Progress and Motor Sich, in our unmanned fighter aircraft. I hope that this deal will further the strategic cooperation between the two countries.”
Baykar also said MS500 Turboprop Engine Technical Specification Agreement for Bayraktar Akıncı with the Motor Sich, another Ukrainian engine-making giant was also signed at the fair.
Bayraktar said that they created an alternative for Akıncı with the MS500 engine and that the engine would be integrated into the vehicle. Stating that the MS500 is a technologically advanced engine like the AI-450, Bayraktar said that this engine will fly Akıncı next year.
Motor Sich JSC Marketing and Sales Manager Pavlo Kasai, for his part, said that with each agreement, the security and strength of the two countries increased as well as their cooperation.
According to Ukrainian sources, the country will supply an AI-450 Turboprop engine for Akıncı UAV and AI-25TLT Turbofan engine for MIUS from 2021 to 2030. In the 10-year period, Ukraine is expected to export more than 500 engines to Baykar with a total value of more than $600 million.
The MIUS is expected to make its maiden flight before 2023.