Having used Baykar’s Bayraktar TB2 armed UAVs in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict successfully, Azerbaijan has added the larger AKINCI to its UCAV fleet. The country is among the first customers of AKINCI-UCAVs.
Turkiye and Azerbaijan have other large-scale cooperations in the defence sector, such as joint air defence command-control, frequent exercises, and cooperation for KAAN 5th generation fighter jet programme.
Compared to Bayraktar TB2, AKINCI has almost ten times the payload capacity thanks to its larger size and two turboprop engines (Ukrainian AI-450 or Canadian PT-6). The UAV can use bombs of up to 2000 lb class, UAV-122 or UAV-230 supersonic air-to-surface missiles, and SOM or ÇAKIR cruise missiles. Azerbaijan is likely to acquire new munitions from Turkiye for its AKINCI fleet.
With this in mind, AKINCI can be summarised as the next level for Azerbaijan’s UAV capabilities after Bayraktar TB2.
The UAV made its combat debut in 2022 in Northern Iraq against terrorist organisations PKK / YPG.
So far, AKINCI has been exported to nine countries in total. Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia are known customers. Most of these countries are also users of the previous UAV Bayraktar TB2.
