“Invaders came to us in Ukraine […] We have only one remark to repeat to them: Bayraktar, Bayraktar! “. Bayraktar TB2 is a new standard of the Ukrainian army, to the glory of which even a song was dedicated. This Turkish-made drone has become a symbol of resistance in the air of Ukrainian forces to the Russian occupier. Since the beginning of the fighting, Ukrainians have attributed to this combat drone the destruction of a dozen armored vehicles, missile systems and Russian trucks through videos posted on social networks.
The device thus became a propaganda tool. Moscow responded to Kiev, for the first time in this conflict, conferring the title “Hero of Russia” to the commander of the anti-aircraft division, which destroyed 2 Bayraktar TB2 drones.
⚡️The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny published footage showing a Russian convoy shot down by Bayraktar-TB2 in the city of Malyn. pic.twitter.com/YDJZmsHKGE
— Ukraine Report (@UkrWar_Report) February 27, 2022
cheap drone
Rugged and lightweight machine weighing 650 kg can fly for 27 hours at speeds over 220 km/h. Under wingspan of 12 meters, it can carry light laser-guided missiles and hit stationary or moving targets at a distance of up to ten kilometers. With the ability to control multiple drones at the same time, it is a formidable reconnaissance and reconnaissance device that can operate alone at a distance of up to 150 km.
Characteristics that distinguish it from its American competitor, the MQ9 Reaper, which, in particular, is equipped with the French army, or the Chinese-made Wing Loong II. More complete units that benefit from much more impact force than the TB2. The advantage of TB2 is that it is cheap, even inexpensive, because it is about 30 times cheaper than MQ9. Anonymous for whom Turkey “reinvented the Kalashnikov of the 21st century”, referring to the versatile AK47 assault rifle, cheap and easy to use.
Ankara crumples Moscow
Bayraktar TB2 entered service with the Ukrainian army after the first contract signed with Turkey in 2019. According to experts, there are about twenty such aircraft in Kyiv, the flagships of the Turkish military industry, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have become the best GRP on the planet, and are already being sold in fifteen countries. Over the years, Turkey has established itself with its drones in the market with a series of conflicts that have shown it so many possibilities. In Nagorno-Karabakh in November 2020, Turkish drones contributed to a decisive turn in favor of Azerbaijan against Armenia.
After the first use in Dombassa in April 2021, Ukraine announced that it wants to purchase 24 new Turkish devices. A commercial relationship that fuels tensions between Ankara and Moscow, the Kremlin fears the use of TB2 by Ukrainian forces against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Thus, during a telephone conversation in December 2021, Vladimir Putin informed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Turkey was carrying out a “provocative” and “destructive” action.
Russian Air Force superiority
“Drones have been able to make a difference in these conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh, Syria or Libya, but not in Ukraine,” Sinan Ulgen, director of the Edam Research Center in Istanbul, tells AFP. “For these drones to be truly effective, they must operate in an environment devoid of aerial threats. This has happened in other theaters as well. Not in Ukraine,” he warns as Russia deploys sophisticated electronic warfare systems. In his opinion, these machines “will be able to hit scattered Russian equipment, but not hit the most important and most protected targets,” in particular around Kyiv.
Twenty drones, “even very effective ones, are not enough to change the course of a war,” said Mark Kanchian, an adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “Let’s remember that the Russian arsenal is estimated at 500 drones, many of which are more powerful than Ukraine’s,” he adds. “Russia certainly uses them too.” And in the theoretical confrontation between Ukrainian and Russian aviation, Kyiv is no match: 132 bombers to zero, 832 fighters to 86, 358 transport aircraft to 63, according to Janes, a British research center specializing in war.
With AFP