On December 15, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine announced that the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andrii Taran signed agreements with Turkish companies on technology transfer and production of corvettes and combat UAVs for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Regarding the agreement, Minister Andrii Taran stated that for the first time in history, Ukraine concluded direct foreign economic agreements on military goods.

The signing took place during the visit of the Turkish delegation headed by the President of the Defense Industries of the Republic of Turkey, İsmail Demir. According to Minister Taran, these projects primarily aim to radically strengthen the combat capabilities of the Ukrainian Navy to increase security in the Black and Azov Sea regions.

The parties discussed the implementation of the agreements within the framework of the intergovernmental agreement and noted that the cooperation between Ukraine and Turkey in the field of defense is of a strategic nature. According to the statement of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, these are the first concrete agreements within the framework of the recently signed agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Turkey. The statement also includes that the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, praised the members of the Turkish delegation for their prompt steps to implement the agreements reached during his recent visit to Turkey, and he hopes that the enterprises of the Ukrainian defense complex will receive a powerful impetus for development with the support of the Turkish technologies and investments. The statement also shares that the President of Defense Industries İsmail Demir, in turn, stressed that Turkey and Ukraine have many common areas of cooperation in the defense sector, and he hopes that these agreements will bring significant mutually beneficial results as they are put into practice.

In October, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andrii Taran and the President of Defense Industries İsmail Demir signed a Memorandum outlining their intentions to launch and implement joint projects to build warships, unmanned aerial vehicles, and all types of turbine engines. At the same time, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andrii Taran and the Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Turkey Hulusi Akar signed a Framework Military Agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Turkey.

The statement does not specify how many systems were purchased. However, according to the news in the Ukrainian media, following the visit of the Ukrainian delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Strategic Industries of Ukraine, Oleg Urusky, and the Director-General of Ukrspecexport Vadym Nozdria on August 27, 2020, Ukraine plans to buy a total of 12 Bayraktar TB-2 UCAV systems from Turkey (each system consists of 4 UCAVs and 1 ground control station).

Ukraine bought 6 Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs and 3 ground control stations from Turkey last year.