"What makes the Anka special is that most of the parts, important and critical parts, are produced and designed in Turkey," said Serdar Demir, TAI's vice president for corporate marketing and communication.
"We can easily say that the Anka is the most indigenous product and that we do not depend on other countries' permits.'"
'Game-changer'
Emre Çalışkan, an analyst at London-based IHS Markit, an international business information firm, said Turkey has tried to compensate the capability gap in air forces with drone technology.
This strategic shift "has enabled Turkey to challenge the interest of top-tier military countries," Çalışkan told the AFP.
He added that Turkish drones proved themselves admirably against Russian defense systems in Syria, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh, becoming a "game-changer (and) shifting the balance of power."
Kasapoğlu, an analyst with the independent Edam think-tank in Istanbul, said Turkey's drones were a "key military power source. And military power is an asset of foreign affairs."
Drones, Calışkan added, might also aid rapprochement with some of Turkey's regional rivals.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan revealed on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia was looking to buy combat drones from Turkey despite an ongoing rivalry between the two powers for influence in the Middle East.
