Türkiye's military is the global leader in the use, management, and development of both armed and unarmed drone systems, the country’s chief of General Staff said Friday.
"The Turkish Armed Forces are truly number one in the world in the use, management, and technology of UAV and UCAV systems,” Gen. Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu told journalists in Germany, at the Distinguished Observer Day of NATO’s largest and most comprehensive live exercise of the year, Steadfast Dart 2026.
He said the Turkish Armed Forces took part in the exercise particularly in the amphibious and land operations, as well as in air command and control components.
"As one of the countries with the highest level of participation, we carried out this exercise successfully,” said Bayraktaroğlu, who attended along with Gen. Metin Tokel, the Turkish Land Forces commander.
Bayraktaroğlu said the Turkish Naval Forces Command successfully carried out its amphibious operations during the exercise, adding: "In addition, a mechanized task force from the Land Forces Command successfully conducted the land operations component of the exercise. We also managed the air system successfully.”
He said all the personnel taking part in the exercise fulfilled their duties successfully and stressed that all weapons, equipment, and systems used by Turkish personnel were entirely domestically produced.
He added that the Turkish task group took part in highly successful air and amphibious operations in the Baltic Sea. He said that the UCAV Bayraktar TB3, after taking off from the ship TCG Anadolu, successfully hit its target with full accuracy and completed its mission.
Bayraktaroğlu said this also got NATO’s appreciation, noting that Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich NATO’s supreme allied commander Europe (SACEUR), visited him and declared that Bayraktaroğlu had come with one of NATO’s largest armed forces.
He added that all NATO member countries and the commander of NATO’s Joint Force Command Brunssum, Gen. Ingo Gerhartz, commended the Turkish Armed Forces units participating in the exercise.
"Our units carried out their duties extremely successfully. All the weapon systems they used are domestic and national. We are proud of this. I congratulate all elements of our armed forces who participated here in both amphibious and land operations, and I wish them continued success,” he said.
