Western Companies behind the “Turkish” Drones

By Jirair Tutunjian, Toronto, 7 November 2020

Their names are meaningless, unfamiliar, and innocuous…TDW, BRP, MBDA, UTAS, MAM-L, CD-155, Rotax, Microhard… but they are not innocuous. They are the names of the companies or their products which have helped Turkey manufacture drones which have killed Armenian soldiers and civilians in the past month, in addition to causing massive urban destruction. These companies–in Germany, Austria, Canada, the United States, and England– have also given Turkey false bragging rights that the drones are the creation of Turkish technology.

Missile-equipped drones (OMTAS) developed by German weapons producer TDW of Schrobenhausen, Bavaria are flying the murderous white crescent-and-star flag in the Artsakh skies. The German company—a subsidiary of MBDA which manufactures missile systems with French and Italian partners–has also sold the production license of their drones to the war criminal Turkish government.

Until recently, the Austrian Rotax was producing engines for the “Turkish” drones. It was helping Turkey by breaking the embargo using an Italian company as a front. Whether outraged by Turkish criminal activities or because of public pressure, Rotax will no longer sell its engines to the Erdogan gang.

Bombardier of Canada is another company which assisted Turkey’s drone manufacturers.  It too has decided to discontinue its relations with Turkey’s murderous drone fabricators.

The U.S.-based Garmin announced on Nov. 4 that the company has launched an investigation to reveal how the devices it has invented have been used in the Turkish Bayraktar UAVs after which relevant measures will be taken. The Armenian National Committee of America brought to the company’s attention that one of the Garmin products has been incorporated into drones to kill innocent civilians in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). The company said it condemned “this violence in the strongest terms, and we are heartbroken for the loved one of those who have been killed.”

The company also said the Garmin product is for commercial use and was not designed for military use, and certainly not intended for drone use. “We are investigating how our product ended up in these drones, and will take appropriate action following our investigation to guard against our products being used again in this manner.”

President Recep Erdogan’s family has shares in Turkey’s drone manufacturing companies. Although his salary is about a million dollars a year, Erdogan is a billionaire many times over, according to German and British investigative reporters. Erdogan’ elder son owns a fleet of tankers while his younger son is a known partner of criminals.

Angela Merkel’s government is another conspirator helping Erdogan and Aliev kill Armenians. In the past 10 years, the Germany has approved 33 units of military hardware for export to Turkey for the use of unmanned military aerial vehicles. Germans have a soft spot for Turks. Thus, they have welcomed three million Turks. Germans admire the Turks’ “martial spirit” although Turkey has lost the overwhelming majority of its wars in the past 250 years.

Then there is Wescam of Burlington, Ontario which has sold electro-optical and infrared cameras for the Turkish Bayraktar and TAI drones.  Wescam—an American-owned company–has also granted Turkish unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturers the right to license its technical facilities and perform maintenance and software updates of its technical equipment in Turkey.

Another Canadian company which has helped Turkey develop drones is the Calgary-based Microhard Systems. It has provided to the “Turkish” drone antennae radio transmitters and amplifiers.

The UTC Aerospace Systems is the subsidiary of a U.S aviation company. It operates in England under the name Atlantic Inertial Systems producing laser technologies for the MAM-L missiles fired from Turkish unmanned aerial vehicles. The company has numerous investments in Turkey, including shares in the Turkish Airlines.

Continental Motors of Germany produces diesel engines named Continental CD 155 for the Bayraktar TB2 and PD155 engines for Anka-S unarmed aerial vehicles.  Numerics Software GmbH (headquartered near Munich) is another German company which has helped Turkey with the production of missiles launched from unmanned aerial vehicles.

Thus, while Turkey has been bragging about the effectiveness of its drones, it hides the fact that Ankara’s drones are pastiches of imported technologies from half-a-dozen western countries—countries which Erdogan charges with declaring a new Crusade against Islam and particularly to Erdogan’s Turkey.

The Turkish Bayraktar drone is a copy  of an Israeli UAV, according to Defense World.net (June 15, 2020). Surprisingly, the Turks didn’t steal the technology: Israel shared the technology of its Aerostar and Heron UAVs with Turkey. The Bayraktar drones not only share similar appearance as the Israeli original but have a similar single turboprop engine. The payload and autonomous operation capabilities of the two drones are also identical.

Last year, The Guardian of London reported that Bayraktar was able to develop drones by using techniques imported from EDO MBM Technology of Brighton, United Kingdom. The specific technology was the Hornet missile racks of Bayraktar TB2. The British invented the intricate rack. Bayraktar would have been inoperable without the rack.

Three weeks before Turkbeijan launched war against Artsakh and Armenia; greenleft ran an article headlined “The Companies behind Turkey’s Killer Drones.” It exposed the Western enabler companies.

During a press conference last week with mostly-European journalists, Armen Sarkissian, president of Armenia, said the “Turkish” drones are the creation of companies from NATO countries. “They are European weapons. Turkey is making only the body. Austrians are making the engine, Canadians are providing the avionics and the British are making the guidance system.”  The name on the drone says Bayraktar but the technology inside is as far from Turkish capabilities as Ankara is from the tents the Turks lived in Central Asia.

Some of the above drone- and drone parts-manufacturers are pulling back from cooperating with the Turks because of negative publicity. But far too many are still in the business of helping Erdogan/Aliev evil twins kill Armenians. Armenians everywhere have an obligation to expose these companies and force them to cancel their drone and drone-parts contracts with the Turkic genocidiers. The Turkish and Israeli drones have played a key role in the Turkbaijan successes in Artsakh as they have rained death on our brothers and sisters. We spare no effort to persuade/force these companies to stop helping genocidiers Erdogan and Aliev. Exposure and public shaming are our best tools. Armenians living in the countries/cities where these companies operate should embarrass these enablers of Turkbeijan.