Military newspaper Mil.in.ua, citing its source in Ukraine’s defense department, confirmed that Ukraine has acquired Bayraktar unmanned combat aerial vehicles from Turkey.

According to a news release put out by Mil.in.ua, during an official visit to Turkey by the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko on 3-4 November,  was signed an agreement on the purchase of Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicles manufactured by Baykar Makina.

It is noted that the signing of the agreement was attended by Minister of Defense of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak, deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleg Gladkovsky and chairman of the Ukroboronprom Pavlo Bukin.

Negotiations for the purchase of these unmanned combat aerial vehicles lasted about two years.

According to the Baykar Makina company, the Bayraktar unmanned aerial vehicle is a Medium Altitude Long Endurance class system developed for tactical reconnaissance and surveillance missions.

Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicle can carry a maximum payload of more than 55kg.  Bayraktar can fly up to 22,500 feet and loiter for more than 24 hours.

Prototype Development Phase started within 2007 based on competition model. Bayraktar Tactical UAS with its critical all subsystems including Flight Control, INS-GPS, Automatic Take Off-Landing systems developed in house demonstrated fully automatic taxi, take off, cruise, landing, parking phases in 2009 and was selected as the winner of the program.

Final production stage officially started in 2012.