Neither China nor Russia, the country that dethrones the USA as the world’s king of combat drones

If you had to guess which country was the world’s leading combat drone manufacturer, which one would you go for? The United States? Russia maybe? Or perhaps China? You’d be wrong on all three counts.

The world’s strongest militaries

Those three countries boast the planet’s strongest militaries, according to the Global Firepower ranking of 145 world powers. The USA leads the way from the Russians, with the Chinese close behind in third.

In case you were wondering, Israel and Ukraine, who are currently involved in ongoing conflicts, are ranked 15th and 20th respectively. The small South Asian country of Bhutan occupies 145th and last place.

However, as highlighted by HuffPost, it is a country that is deemed to have the ninth strongest military on Earth that is out in front when it comes to making combat drones: Turkey.

Baykar pushes Turkey to the forefront

One of the main reasons for that is Baykar, an Istanbul-based private defence company specializing in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), command and control, and artificial intelligence. The company accounts for a quarter of Turkey’s total aerospace and defense exports.

Interestingly, Selçuk Bayraktar, Baykar’s Chief Technical Officer, called on Turkish officials to invest in drone technology as far back as 2005, saying: “If Turkey supports this project, these drones, then in five years it can easily be at the forefront of the world in this field”. This is exactly how things have worked out.

Baykar reported an impressive $1.8 billion in revenue for 2024, as detailed in an analysis by the defense-focused publication InfoDefensa. It is also estimated to control 65% of the global drone market, according to data from the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).

Baykar drones have been used by the Azerbaijani army in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War (between Azerbaijan, Armenia and the self-declared Armenian breakaway state of Artsakh), as well as by the Ukrainian military in the war in Donbas.

British aircraft manufacturer Andair was one of a number of international companies that stopped selling equipment to Baykar after discovering it was being used to make combat drones.

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