Strategy&Future

Jacek Bartosiak talks to Arda Mevlütoğlu on the Poland’s acquisition of Turkish drones, and on the transformation of Poland’s and Turkey’s grand strategies.

Poland has joined the list of countries that are going to operate the Turkish Bayraktar UAVs. In the near future, Turkish drones are going to fly in the skies of Poland and the Baltic countries along with the other countries that have already bought the Bayraktar TB2: Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Qatar and Tunisia (Anka-S). However, the Drone Deal between Poland and Turkey was regarded in Turkey as historic because it was the first ever the NATO-member and EU-member state to decide to buy Turkish drones. This is consequently viewed as a recognition of the high-level of technological advancement Turkey has made.

The Last 21 Years: Year (2)018

Turkey’s drive for military technological independence has shown tremendous results. Turkish arms exports increased by 170% during the period 2014-18, compared with the period 2009-13. By 2018, Turkey was the 14th largest arms exporter in the world, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Turkmenistan the main destinations.

“This is true for countries like us, which struggle for survival on different fronts at the same time. We are a country that has suffered a lot of foreign dependency in terms of weapons, ammunition and military equipment in our recent history. We remember the embargoes we faced due to our Cyprus Peace Operation just like yesterday. In this period, we could not even take back the F-35 aircraft we sent for periodic maintenance, let alone receive the aircraft we paid for in advance. In fact, we had to pay a storage fee for aircraft that were not delivered to us for years.” Recep Tayyip Erdogan January 2021

The Last 21 Years: (2)012

On 4th January 2010, the Burj Khalifa opened in Dubai. At 828 metres, it was the world’s tallest building. In fact, all of the world’s seven-tallest buildings were now located in Asia: Taipei 101 (508 metres, 2004); World Financial Center, Shanghai (492 metres, 2008); International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong (484 metres, 2010); Petronas Towers 1 and 2, Kuala Lumpur (452 metres, 1998); and Zifeng Tower, Nanjing (450 metres, 2010). “We are entering a completely new era of world history,” said Kishore Mahbubani at a lecture at the St. Gallen Symposium. “You’re seeing the end of what I call Western domination of world history but I hasten to add that the end of Western domination of world history is not the end of the West.

“Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything.” Normally we might be inclined to ignore Steve Jobs’ sales patter but here, on 9th January 2007 unveiling the first-generation Apple iPhone, he was – as they say – on point.

In the 31st January 1907 edition of Le Matin, under the headline Paris-Pékin Automobile: Un défi prodigieux, there was a really remarkable story which looked set to define what we now think of as the first era of globalisation. And since 2006 happens to be the year that Google Translate was launched, it shouldn’t pose too many problems for S&F readers if we re-publish the original text here:

Jacek Bartosiak talks to Bleddyn E. Bowen on his book on War in Space and the ensuing space strategies.