Turkish defense company Baykar intends to complete construction of a plant near Kyiv in August 2025, the company's CEO Haluk Bayraktar told Reuters.

Bayraktar told the agency they had completed 80% of the construction and the machines were being ordered. The production date will be determined by the progress of the war, but the facility will be ready in August 2025, he said.

The plant is expected to produce the TB2 or its heavier TB3 variant.

Baykar currently uses Ukrainian-built engines for the Akinci and Kizilelma drones. The company also recently signed an agreement with Ukraine's Ivchenko-Progress to jointly develop a turbofan engine, Bayraktar said.

Baykar will invest $300 million over the next five years to develop a turboprop engine for the Akinci drone. This will be followed by a turbofan engine for the Kizilelma, an air-to-air drone currently undergoing flight testing.

Baykar will maintain the capacity of its TB2 and Akinci production lines and invest in expanding the TB3 and Kizilelma lines over the next few years. Kizilelma is expected to enter serial production next year with 10 units.

Baykar's revenue last year was $2 billion, up from $1.4 billion the previous year, with 90% coming from overseas markets. The company accounts for about a third of Turkey's defense and aerospace exports.

As previously reported, Turkish-made Bayraktar drones have gained widespread fame around the world after the Ukrainian military began using them to counter Russian troops by destroying armored vehicles and artillery systems. In February, it was reported that Baykar's plant in Ukraine would employ about 500 people and produce about 120 units per year.