Cambodia, Turkey
Phnom Penh explores drone partnerships with Ankara and Kyiv
LogoSubscribers only By Louis Raymond
Published on 02.11.2026 at 05:00 GMT 2 min read Lire en français
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet during a visit to Washington, United States, 17 February 2026.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet during a visit to Washington, United States, 17 February 2026. © Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Despite the border conflict with Thailand being frozen for a year, defence planning for a possible new upsurge in fighting is well under way. Cambodian officials are banking on partners who have little to lose vis-à-vis Bangkok.
On 16 October, during an official visit to Ankara, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet watched as Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Cambodian Deputy Defence Minister Prak Sovanna signed a a military cooperation deal.
Prior to the agreement, a delegation of defence ministry technical experts visited several industry groups, namely Aselsan, Intelligence Online has learned. Its mission was to explore options for the anti-drone systems that Phnom Penh hopes to acquire. More broadly, Cambodian engineers carried out several missions in Turkey in 2026, all in the interest of being prepared for a possible renewal of fighting in the border conflict with Thailand, which has been frozen since the signing of a ceasefire on 27 December 2025.
Khmer-Turkish channel
The budding ties with Turkey grew from initial contacts in March 2025, which were covered in the Cambodian press. Ulku Kocaefe, the Turkish ambassador in Phnom Penh, had accompanied an Aselsan delegation at a meeting with the chief of staff of the Cambodian armed forces, General Vong Pisen.
The Khmer-Turkish channel was also activated as part of an unexpected and somewhat excessive move at the height of the conflict with Bangkok. Officials in the Cambodian armed forces sought to launch negotiations with Baykar to acquire Bayraktar TB2 tactical drones, before operational difficulties led them to change their mind (IO, 25/11/25).
In any case, Turkey has all the makings of an ideal partner for Cambodia. Ankara has few prospects for arms deals with Thailand, as opposed to Israel, which provides Bangkok with both tactical drones and anti-drone solutions.
Hesitation between Ukraine and Russia
Cambodia has also shown interest in a potential partnership with Ukraine, particularly for attack drones. Our sources say that discussion channels between Kyiv and Phnom Penh are open in this regard. At the same time, Russia is putting on considerable pressure to expand its military cooperation with Cambodia (IO, 30/07/26), namely by sending training staff on the use of kamikaze drones (IO, 09/10/26).
So far, the Russian advisers have been at pains to convert their efforts on the ground into perspectives for defence deals, not least due to the efforts of Kyiv's military intelligence service, the GUR. Bangkok sees the Ukrainian agency's communication on the topic of Russian-Cambodian cooperation as an attempt to convince them of a Russian threat against Thailand. Military cooperation between Bangkok and Moscow has nonetheless gone without a hitch so far (IO, 24/12/25).
Thailand did indicate in December 2025 it had found evidence that Cambodia used fibre-optic-guided kamikaze drones in the border region. Similar units have been used in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Bangkok did not, however, say where the drones had come from.
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