UAE, Turkey collaborate on bombs for drones

MILAN — Abu Dhabi-based defense conglomerate Edge Group has finalized the integration of its Desert Sting guided bomb onto the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone, signaling a new wave of cooperation between Emirati and Turkish defense firms.

“We have reached a significant milestone in our partnership with Baykar, with the successful integration of our advanced Desert Sting 16 precision-guided munition onto the TB2 UAV,” Edge wrote in a Jan 17. post published on the X platform, formerly Twitter.

Footage was also published showing a test flight of the DS-16 being loaded on the Turkish drone.

In the video, the TB2 can be seen taking off from a Baykar facility, dropping one of the munitions while in flight and landing at nighttime. The footage suggests that the flight was conducted above the Gulf of Saros, off the coast of Turkey.

The development is part of a strategic agreement Edge and Baykar have signed, which seeks to further their collaboration in the security sector. The two companies also have plans to integrate other payloads on different Baykar vehicles in the future.

At the Dubai Airshow in November, Faisal Al Bannai, chairman of the board of directors at Edge, told Defense News that these ambitions could include the TB3, which is nearing serial production.

“We are [also] in discussions with Baykar to integrate our missiles on some of their drones and to possibly acquire the TB3 model eventually,” he said, referring to the naval variant of the TB2.

Previously known as an importer of military equipment, the UAE government has doubled down on efforts to reduce its dependence on foreign defense imports seeking to build-up national manufacturing capabilities.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

米兰——总部位于阿布扎比的国防集团 Edge Group 已完成将其“沙漠之刺”制导炸弹集成到土耳其 Bayraktar TB2 无人机上的工作，这标志着阿联酋和土耳其国防公司之间新一轮合作的开始。

Edge 在 1 月 17 日发布于 X 平台（前身为 Twitter）的一篇文章中写道：“我们与 Baykar 的合作取得了重大里程碑式的进展，我们已成功将先进的 Desert Sting 16 精确制导弹药集成到 TB2 无人机上。”

公布的视频还显示，土耳其无人机正在装载 DS-16 进行试飞。

视频显示，TB2无人机从拜卡尔公司的一处设施起飞，在飞行途中投掷了一枚弹药，并在夜间降落。画面显示，此次飞行是在土耳其沿海的萨罗斯湾上空进行的。

此次研发是Edge和Baykar签署的战略协议的一部分，旨在深化双方在安防领域的合作。两家公司未来还计划在Baykar的不同车辆上集成其他有效载荷。

11 月在迪拜航展上，Edge 董事会主席 Faisal Al Bannai 告诉《防务新闻》，这些雄心壮志可能包括即将批量生产的 TB3。

“我们也在与 Baykar 公司讨论将我们的导弹集成到他们的一些无人机上，并有可能最终获得 TB3 型号，”他说道，这里指的是 TB2 的海军版本。

阿联酋政府此前以进口军用装备而闻名，如今已加倍努力减少对外国国防进口的依赖，力求发展本国制造业能力。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。