Reuters/Agendinar Wolfiana
Baykar CEO Haluk Bayraktar and Norman Joesof, founder of Republicorp Indonesia
According to a local newspaper, Baykar, a leading Turkey-based defense supplier, has signed a contract with Jakarta-based defense company Republicorp to build a drone manufacturing plant in Indonesia.
The deal was one of several agreements signed during President Tayp Erdogan’s visit to Indonesia, media reports said.
Baykar, a private Turkish defense company chaired by Erdogan’s son-in-law, is building Bayraktar drones that have been sold to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and a series of African countries.
“We have agreed to strengthen cooperation between the co-production and the defense industry,” Jakar Taglove reported daily that he cited Indonesia’s President Prabowo Sabuant.
However, details regarding the joint venture’s manufacturing capabilities and factory location are not shared.
Indonesia’s state-run PT Pindad and Turkish defense company FNSS Defense System are jointly developing a medium tank, Halimau. Last October, they agreed to produce Kaplan armor officers for the Indonesian Army, the newspaper said.
Baykar has begun construction of a factory near Kyiv, Ukraine. It will employ around 500 people and will manufacture either a TB2 or TB3 drone model.
In 2023, the company said it was selling another model of the drone, Bailaktal Akinki, to Saudi Arabia in what is called the largest defence contract in Turkish history.
