Turkey and Egypt target African market with UAV deal

Turkish company Havelsan and Egypt have signed an agreement to jointly produce autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles. The cooperation agreement covers the production of the Baha, Bulut and Bozbey UAVs.

The pact, between Havelsan and Egypt’s Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI), will allow the Turkish company to target the African market.

“The partnership will enhance local production capacity while bringing autonomous UAV technologies to the region, allowing us to make a strong entry into the African market,” he told state-owned Anadolu Agency.

Details of the facility or financials of the deal were not disclosed.

Ties between the two countries have been challenged since Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi was removed from power and jailed in a coup in 2013, leading to Turkey downgrading diplomatic relations until 2020, when Cairo and Ankara again exchanged ambassadors.

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Turkey and Egypt have since moved closer to rapprochement.

Last year Turkey’s president Tayyip Erdoğan and Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi signed 17 memorandums of understanding.

Turkish investments in Egypt are worth more than $3 billion, mostly centred in dedicated free trade industrial zones.