- HAVELSAN and Egypt’s AOI sign deal to co-produce VTOL drones in Cairo.
- Production set at Kader Factory; specs and delivery timeline undisclosed.
- Agreement follows renewed Turkey-Egypt diplomatic ties and past defense pacts.
Turkey and Egypt agreed to collaboratively manufacture vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), which are drones that take off like helicopters and fly like small airplanes.
The agreement is between HAVELSAN, a defense contractor from Turkey, and Egypt’s Arab Organization for Industrialization, a government-owned entity that operates military manufacturing facilities. According to reports from Egypt and the surrounding region, production is set to occur at the Kader Factory for Developed Industries, which is associated with AOI, located in Cairo.
Turkey's envoy in Cairo, Salih Mutlu Şen, declared the accord on X and praised both parties. He referred to the initiative as a new phase in collaboration between Ankara and Cairo.
Both parties did not disclose specifications or a timeline for delivery. Janes noted that HAVELSAN temporarily uploaded, then deleted, an announcement regarding joint production and displayed a video of HAVELSAN’s BAHA, a compact fixed-wing VTOL drone. Certain Egyptian sources mentioned a model named "Torgha" or "Turkha," a designation that HAVELSAN has not verified.
AOI is a government body supervised by a committee led by Egypt’s president, functioning as a center for domestic manufacturing and authorized production. HAVELSAN, which is owned by the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation, creates software, autonomous systems, and command-and-control solutions.
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The drone arrangement comes after a March agreement for the collaborative manufacturing of unmanned ground vehicles at the same Kader facility. HAVELSAN and AOI announced that the project intends to manufacture vehicles in Egypt with Turkish technical assistance.
The accord follows a warming of relations. Turkey and Egypt reestablished complete diplomatic relations in July 2023 and swapped ambassadors. In February 2024, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan traveled to Cairo for discussions with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
HAVELSAN’s VTOL series features BAHA, which was added to the Turkish military’s arsenal in April 2025, and BULUT, which began its service in Turkey this summer.