“NATO member Turkey’s military is on a roll — just as Europe seems willing to overlook the latest democratic backsliding by its strongman president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan because it needs a well-armed ally to protect its south-eastern flank from Russian revanchism.”
Comments
(From the FT article, data from IISS)
Nobody should add their equipment numbers to the rest of nato.
Like, what *exactly* are they referring to? We already have VTOL drones on ships. And there have been many fixed wing drone tests on carriers. Turkey is definitely a leading nation here, but this claim is a bit 🤔🧐
So, to my knowledge it was indeed the first time a MALE UCAV UAV self-piloted took off from a carrier.
But again, there are lots of tests in this field.
Never said other UAVs could not do it.
P.S.: You are doing a great job ! Keep it going !
It's a critical point to control and coerce russian expansionism.
The normal Turkish stance is to sit on the fence (and in fairness certain 'allies' across the pond have shown their unreliability, so hedging of bets is perhaps wise, even if duplicitous)