Selçuk Bayraktar (born October 7, 1979, in Istanbul, Turkey) is a prominent Turkish engineer, business leader, and pilot, widely recognized as a pivotal figure in the development of Turkey's indigenous aerospace and defense industry. As the Chairman of the Board and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Baykar, he has led the design and production of several unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems that have significantly influenced modern military doctrine and international geopolitics. Born in the Sarıyer district of Istanbul, Bayraktar is the son of Özdemir Bayraktar, an industrialist who founded the family company Baykar in 1984, and Canan Bayraktar. His foundational education took place at Sarıyer Primary School, followed by Robert College, where he graduated in 1997. He continued his academic pursuits at Istanbul Technical University (ITU), earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering in 2002. Demonstrating early promise in robotics and automation, Bayraktar moved to the United States for graduate studies. He received a Master of Science degree from the University of Pennsylvania's GRASP Laboratory in 2004, where his research on aerial-ground robot coordination received notable attention. He subsequently pursued advanced studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he focused on automatic flight control algorithms for unmanned helicopter systems and earned a second Master of Science degree in 2006. In 2007, Bayraktar returned to Turkey to lead the technology and engineering efforts at Baykar. Shifting the company’s focus toward indigenous UAV development, he played an instrumental role in designing and implementing flight control systems, avionics architecture, and navigation algorithms. Under his technical leadership, the company successfully developed the Bayraktar Mini UAV, followed by the landmark Bayraktar TB2. The TB2, a tactical armed drone, became a cornerstone of the Turkish Armed Forces' capabilities, gaining international attention for its performance in various conflicts, including the Syrian Civil War, the Second Libyan Civil War, the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. His work expanded to include the Bayraktar Akıncı, a high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) combat drone, and the Kızılelma, Turkey's first unmanned combat fighter aircraft project. Beyond his industrial contributions, Bayraktar is a prominent advocate for Turkey's "National Technology Initiative." He co-founded the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation), which focuses on fostering engineering talent among the youth. The foundation is best known for organizing TEKNOFEST, an annual aerospace and technology festival that has grown into one of the largest events of its kind globally, aimed at promoting interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). In his personal life, Bayraktar married Sümeyye Erdoğan, the daughter of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in 2016. The couple has two children. A private pilot, Bayraktar has been the recipient of numerous international honors, including the Karabakh Order from Azerbaijan and the Order of Merit from Ukraine, recognizing the geopolitical impact of the systems developed under his guidance. Today, he remains a central figure in Turkey’s defense sector, continuing to oversee advanced aerospace projects and the expansion of autonomous technologies at Baykar.