KYIV, Sept 12 - Ukraine plans to buy 24 more Bayraktar TB2 attack drones from Turkey, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Lieutenant-General Valeriy Zaluzhny told Azerbaijani news agency Report Saturday.

Currently, there are 12 Bayraktar TB2 drones in Ukraine's inventory being used in the air and naval forces.

The top military official said it "planned to purchase" four more of the drones to "meet the needs of the armed forces in 2021-2022," adding that Kyiv plans to replenish its arsenal with locally produced drones in the future.

On the use and procurement of the Bayraktar TB2 drones, Zaluzhny said: “Firstly, we need to learn how to work effectively with them, and secondly, we must definitely know the tactics in the forms of their use.”

“We must take a comprehensive approach to the issue,” he said, noting that if Ukraine had the experience of Azerbaijan, which gained significant leverage over Armenian forces during the recent conflict over the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh, “it would be much easier.”

In their previous statements, Ukrainian authorities set an upper limit on how many Bayraktar TB2s should be purchased at 48 units.

State-owned Ukrspetsexport, the defense export agency, signed an agreement worth $69 million (TL 584.4 million) with Baykar for the supply of six Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs, two control stations and 200 smart ammunitions in January 2019. Baykar delivered the orders in two months.

The Ukrainian navy received the first batch of Bayraktar TB2s in July.

Most recently, Selçuk Bayraktar, chief technology officer (CTO) of Baykar said the Bayraktar TB2 UCAV has been seeing unprecedented demand from around the world following its deployment in military operations. “This interest has increased greatly particularly following the operations in Idlib and Nagorno-Karabakh.”

Bayraktar even said, “from time to time we have difficulties in meeting demands.”

The Bayraktar TB2 participated in Turkey’s Operation Spring Shield, Operation Olive Branch, Operation Euphrates Shield in Syria. The drones had devastated Bashar Assad regime ground forces during clashes in Idlib province in February-March 2020.

The Bayraktar TB2 has been sold to countries including Ukraine, Qatar, Azerbaijan and Poland. In May, Poland became the first European Union and NATO member state to acquire drones from Turkey. (rp/ez)