Russian Missiles Damage Ukrainian Factory Making Engines for Turkish Akinci Drones

Damage to a Ukrainian Motor Sich factory producing AI-450 aircraft engines installed in Turkish Akinci attack drones was reported as a result of a Russian missile attack near the Zaporizhzhia yesterday.

Russian MoD spokesperson, Igor Konashenkov, said that in Zaporizhzhia, a workshop for assembling aircraft engines for the Ukrainian air forces at the Motor Sich enterprise was destroyed by high-precision strikes by the Russian Aerospace Forces.

Separately, a member of the main council of the administration of the Zaporozhye region, Vladimir Rogov said that the Motor Sich facility assembling the AI-450 engine was hit. Full damage assessment is still to be done.

In November 2021, Turkey's Baykar had signed agreements with Ukrainian engine manufacturers- Ivchenko Progress and Motor Sich for the supply of engines for various unmanned systems including Bayraktar Akinci Drones.

Current Akinci attack drones are powered by the AI-450 engines produced by Motor Sich. Future models will be powered by the MS500 Turboprop Engine for which an agreement was concluded in November 2021.