Recently, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Chief Marshal (ACM) Zaheer Ahmed Babar, visited Türkiye. Of note, ACM Babar met with Selçuk Bayraktar, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Baykar Technologies. The PAF Directorate General of Public Relations (DGPR) stated that the meeting “focused on [the] advancements in aerospace innovation, unmanned aerial systems, and emerging technologies, reflecting the shared vision of both sides to pursue greater collaboration in next-generation defence technologies.”
Aside from the visit to Baykar, the CAS’ trip to Türkiye was standard fare in that there were meetings with his counterparts in the Turkish Air Force and the Turkish Ministry of National Defence.
However, it is worth noting that, among all Turkish defence original equipment manufacturers (OEM), the PAF CAS met only with Baykar.
Baykar has an active and evidently growing relationship with the PAF. The service was an early customer of the Bayraktar Akıncı high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and also procured a number of Bayraktar TB2 medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAVs. Currently, it does not appear that many of either type were procured, but on the back of the PAF’s purchases, Baykar both set up a site at the National Aerospace Science and Technology Park (NASTP) to co-develop the KaGeM V3 and YiHA loitering munitions. It later spun that out into a local subsidiary, Baykar Technologies Pakistan.
That same subsidiary is reportedly in talks with the PAF to establish an assembly or co-production plant for its drones.
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