Few weapons have changed the nature of warfare in Africa quite like drones. And few drones have been as popular and as effective as those coming from Turkey.
From small quadcopter-style ZD100 and ZD200 models to the fixed-wing, semi-autonomous Bayraktar TB2, Turkish drones are rapidly becoming the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of choice for African nations.
While Turkish companies offer a variety of drones for a wide range of purposes, African nations have focused much of their attention on the military drones developed by Baykar, run by the son-in-law of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In late 2024, Kenya became the latest African nation to take delivery of Bayraktar TB2s, receiving six of the flying weapons platforms. Kenya received the UAVs shortly after Baykar announced on social media in August that Kenyan operators had completed their training.
Kenya joins a growing list of Baykar clients in Africa that includes Angola, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, Togo, and Tunisia. Rwanda may be trying to acquire Baykar drones as well, according to published reports.
In December 2024, Baykar launched a project to build and maintain Bayraktar TB2s and the more advanced Akinci drones in Morocco. Morocco bought 13 Bayraktar TB2 drones in 2021 for $70 million.
“By setting up a production factory in Morocco, the Turkish company will be able to deliver drones to its African clients quicker than its competitors,” the North African Post wrote in January.
At $2 million to $5 million each, the Bayraktar TB2 costs about a quarter the price of other military-grade drones. That makes it affordable for countries to boost their military capabilities despite modest defense budgets, according to analyst Patrick Kenyette writing for Military Africa.
African nations got their first look at Turkish drone technology during the Libyan civil war. Turkey’s alliance with the internationally recognized Government of National Accord allowed it to flood the battlefield with drones. In 2019, a Turkish drone attacked an air base controlled by the Libyan National Army. Drones also destroyed an Ilyushin cargo plane at the al-Jufra air base controlled by Russian mercenaries.
Turkish drones played a key role in Ethiopia’s defeat last year of Tigray rebels. They have also been employed against terrorists in Somalia. In West Africa, Nigeria and Togo are using Turkish drones to patrol their borders with Burkina Faso and Niger to prevent extremists from invading their countries.
In mid-2024, Turkey announced a plan to promote its drones in Africa with Saudi Arabia providing the financing to help with purchases. Some Baykar-made drones will also be manufactured in Saudi Arabia starting in 2026.
“Turkish drones have proven their effectiveness in many different battles, especially in Libya,” researcher Ahmed Abouyoussef wrote for the Al Habtoor Research Centre. “These locally made drones have provided Turkey with a new foreign policy tool that it has employed to maximize its external influence.”
Turkey’s no-strings-attached approach to drone exports has helped it build new military alliances across Africa, particularly among countries fighting insurgencies such as Ethiopia and Somalia, Abouyoussef noted. However, that same unconditional approach puts Turkey’s drone business at risk should its client nations use those weapons against civilians, as has already been done in some cases, or in other ways that could constitute war crimes, Abouyoussef wrote.
“In such a case, Turkey’s regional and global opponents might use this a justification to impose more limits on the industry of Turkish drones,” Abouyoussef wrote.
