Albania to officially purchase three Turkish Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs.

According to a tweet published by Haluk Bayraktar on December 20, 2022, an agreement was signed between the President of Albania, Edi Rama, and Haluk Bayraktar, the CEO of Baykar for the purchase of three Bayraktar TB2 Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles.

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Signature of the contract between the Turkish ambassador of Albania, Tayyar Kagan, Haluk Bayraktar, Edi Rama, and Albanian MoD, Niko Peleshi. (Picture source: Twitter account of Haluk Bayraktar)

Air Recognition had written on July 3, 2021, that Albania could be the next country to buy the Bayraktar TB-2 Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAV).

The Bayraktar TB2 is a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations.

It is manufactured by the Turkish company Baykar Makina Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş., primarily for the Turkish Armed Forces. The aircraft are monitored and controlled by an aircrew in a ground control station, including weapons employment.

The Bayraktar TB2 platform has a blended wing body design with an inverted V-tail structure. Thrust is generated by a variable pitch two-blade propeller in pusher configuration.

The propeller is mounted between the tail booms and driven by an internal combustion engine located in the body. The monocoque platform is modular with detachable main items such as wing, tail boom, and V-tails.

Fuselage pieces are made mostly of carbon fiber composite with machined aluminum parts at joints. Fuel is stored within bladder tanks and fuel consumption is balanced with solenoid valves.

The price for a single TB2 unit has been estimated at 5 million US dollars, around one-sixth of the US-built Reaper UAV. Baykar has not stated a price, but has republished on its website several news reports about crowdfunding campaigns launched in 2022 in Europe to buy Bayraktar UAVs for Ukraine, all of them fixing a goal of around US$5–5.5 million for the unit.