Ceri Gibbons: Critical parts of Turkish armed drones are from the UK

Arif BEKTAŞ
Brighton

Ceri Gibbons, who runs campaigns against the UK governments’ sale of arms to countries governed by repressive regimes, is an anti-arms-trade activist.

Gibbons, who claims that critical parts of Turkish unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs)/armed drones, such as the missile locking system, are supplied by the EDO MBM company in the UK, notes that the United Kingdom has taken on the role of being Turkey's closest Western arms supplier, and says, "Therefore, democratic problems are ignored and there is no political pressure put on Turkey."

Gibbons also corresponded with his country's Department of International Trade on this issue, and the response delivered to him on August 19, 2020 stated that EDO MBM, the company involved in exporting hornet bomb rack/missile launch system to Turkey between 2014 and 2020, has been granted 16 licenses, the last of which is in 2019.

When the allegation that EDO MBM sold missile locking systems to Baykar was raised by The Guardian in 2019, Baykar Technical Manager Selcuk Bayraktar denied the claim and said, "Mechanical lock. We're not buying it from you, we have never bought it from you. It doesn't work in every condition and it's very expensive. We designed and produced a much more advanced one ourselves at an affordable cost."

"ONE OF THE COMPANIES STOPPED SUPPLIES"

Ceri Gibbons worked at the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) organisation for years. After it was revealed that Saudi Arabia was targeting civilians in Yemen, CAAT sued the British government and it was revealed in court that the Saudis had slaughtered civilians with British weapons. The United Kingdom was then forced to stop the arms trade to Saudi Arabia.

We talk with Gibbons about the Turkey’s UCAVs produced by Baykar Defense with government support in Turkey and advertised in abundance. "In Brighton, there is a company called EDO MBM Technology Ltd, a subsidiary of the large American arms manufacturer L3 Harris. EDO MBM provides missile locks to Bayraktar TB2 UCAV manufacturer Baykar," Ceri Gibbons says. He continues “These mechanisms are produced by few companies in the world which has the expertise. EDO is one of them. Without these mechanisms, you can't launch a bomb from the UCAV. So you don't have an armed drone, you only have a surveillance drone.”

Gibbons says: "Based on the evidence about a drone that has been shot down in Nagorno-Karabakh so far, we know that two companies in the United Kingdom provide parts. One of them was EDO MBM, the other was Andair Ltd. But Andair stopped the construction of the fuel system components of the Bayraktar WMD engine," and adds: "They were supplying Baykar with a part called the 'gasolator' (fuel pump) that filters the fuel and makes the turbo engine on the Bayraktar TB2 DRONE work better. We discovered this in 2020 thanks to photographic evidence found in Karabakh. The Armenian diaspora in Canada, the United States and here campaigned to stop arms supply to Turkey from different Western countries. One of these suppliers was Andair. The Armenian Embassy in London wrote to Andair in October 2020, reporting that parts produced by them were used in these drones to kill people in Karabakh. I spoke to Andair myself and they told me they weren't aware of it at the time. And after investigating the case, they stopped supplying Baykar. Andair became the first British company to cut off supply to the Turkish drone industry. "

"ARMS CONTROL REGULATION IS BEING VIOLATED"

Ceri Gibbons is also critical of the Secretary of State for Defence Wallace:

"British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace praises the effectiveness of Turkey's UCAV programme in Libya and Karabakh. Bayraktar suggested that TB2 UCAVs were used effectively by Turkey and Azerbaijan and that the United Kingdom wanted to copy similar UCAVs because they are cheap."

  "One of the reasons why Ben Wallace praises Turkey is that Turkey's UCAV production is much cheaper than British, American and Israeli UCAV production. However, the  reason it is cheap is that it is subsidized by the Turkish government and components produced for civilian use, not military  use. And that's a direct violation of many arms control regulations. "he says.

Gibbons continues:

"This is one of the reasons why the Canadian government decided to stop supplying components to the Turkish UCAV industry."

Ceri Gibbons' answer to the question “does the technology used in Bayraktar TB2 belongs to Turkey or does Turkey imports that technology too?" is: "Both. It seems that Turkey has its own arms industry and is increasingly trying to be self-sufficient in terms of ownership and production of component parts for different systems. But when it comes to UCAVs, they don't have access to everything they need. The Bayraktar design appears to be a variation of another drone supplied by the United States years ago for surveillance purposes. They are trying to copy previously imported parts and technologies, that is, to produce the same. It kind of means stealing. They're trying to steal design and technology as much as they can. If they can't steal it, they have to buy it. "

"DEMOCRATIC PROBLEMS ARE BEING IGNORED"

Gibbson, who campaigns against the arms trade, points out that the United Kingdom and Turkey have a relationship that has become closer in recent years, especially with the loosening of ties with Turkey and the United States.

Gibbons says there are parliamentary audit committees in the UK that are intended to provide democratic oversight of arms trade processes: “They investigate and often ask unanswered questions. But they don't have the power to enforce what the government is doing. All they can do is draw attention to something after they know it."

Emphasizing that the United Kingdom has taken on the role of being Turkey's closest Western arms supplier, Ceri Gibbons says, "Therefore, democratic problems are ignored and political pressures are not put on Turkey.”

"CRITICAL PARTS ARE NOT IN PLACE"

As for GPS technology, Gibbons says: "GPS technology is required for guided missiles. The GPS system is controlled by U.S. companies such as L3 Harris. That's why they have to go through America to access the GPS."

Ceri Gibbons is skeptical that Turkey can have its own ‘domestic and national’ drones unless these suppliers, companies and supporting countries exist:

"It's about how critical each component is. No matter how domestic, (Turkey said that 93 percent of Bayraktar WMDs are domestic) non-domestic critical system parts depend on Western companies. No matter how small the piece is, it's vitally important for the UCAV. Without that piece, it's no longer an armed drone.

People say, 'What is missile locking? Why is it important? It's not even a bomb.' Yes, it's true. It's not a bomb. But without it, that bomb has no value. It's locking the bomb on target, it's crucial to launching the bomb."