A drone factory established by a Turkish aviation firm started operations Friday in the capital Ankara.

Lapis Havacılık, a Turkish aviation company that was established in 2015, develops unique domestic unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones.

The firm's 3,500-square-meter (4,185-square-yard) plant has already begun the mass production of drones.

Its top models are a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drone, which can fly for up to five hours, and a LAP 60, which can fly for up to one hour within the range of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).

These drones can be used for agriculture, rescue missions, communication and freight transport.

Turkey is well known in the field of drones with the globally recognized firms Baykar and Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI). The country’s defense and aviation exports were around $3 billion (TL 22 billion) last year.

The country has seven defense firms that are among the top 100 defense firms globally.