Over the past few weeks, several video clips have emerged on the social media platforms
showing Turkish combat drones Bayraktar TB2 destroying Russian tanks,
and convoys as President Putin's forces tried to make inroads into the country.
Ukraine's Ministry of Defence, has put up many footages of the Bayraktar
combat drones wreaking havoc on Russian forces.
The drone now has a cult like following. So popular are Bayraktar drones with the
Ukrainian army that it is celebrated in a song. “We took offence at these orcs. Russian bandits
are made into ghosts by Bayraktar,” and posted on the the country's land force's Facebook page.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry posted on Twitter an image
of a police dog named Bayraktar, and a lemur born in the Kyiv zoo has also been named after
the drones that have taken out Russian tanks and missile systems in recent days.
The TB2 is Ukraine’s only armed UAV, carrying as many as four laser-guided munitions.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how Turkish made Bayraktar TB2
armed drone is turning out to be one of the most effective weapon
for Ukraine against Russia ? Let's get into the details
The Bayraktar TB2 is a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned
combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations.
It is manufactured by the Turkish Company Baykar Defence,
primarily for the Turkish Armed Forces and is developed from TB1
The aircraft is monitored and controlled by aircrew in the Ground Control Station, including
weapons employment, via Türksat satellite. Bayraktar means "ensign" or "standard-bearer"
in Turkish. The development of the UAV has been largely credited to Selçuk Bayraktar,
a former MIT graduate student, and son-in-law of President Erdogan.
While the Turkish Armed Forces describe Bayraktar
TB2 as a "Tactical UAV Class" to prevent it from being a competitor to the TAI Anka UAV,
international standards would classify it as a medium-altitude long-endurance UAV.
As of 26 November 2021, the TB2 drone completed 400,000 flight hours globally.
Bayraktar TB2 features a monocoque design integrating an inverse v-tail structure.
The fuselage is made of carbon fiber, Kevlar and hybrid composites, whereas the joint segments
constitute precision computer numerical control (CNC) machined Aluminium parts.
The UAV has a length of 6.5m, a wingspan of 12m and a maximum take-off weight of 650kg or 1435 lbs
It has a redundant flight control system that allows autonomous taxi, take-off,
navigation, landing and parking operations without assistance from any external sensor.
The standard payload configuration includes an electro-optical (EO) camera module, an infrared
(IR) camera module, a laser designator, a laser range finder (LRF) and a laser pointer.
The power plant integrates a 100hp internal combustion
engine driving a two-bladed variable pitch propeller.
The UAV has a range of more than 150 km or around 95 miles and can fly at a maximum altitude of
27,030ft. It has a maximum speed of about 225 kph or around 140 mph and an endurance of 27 hours.
It has 4 hardpoints for laser-guided smart munition,
with provisions to carry combinations of :
1. L-UMTAS which is a Long Range Anti-tank Missile System
2. MAM which is precision-guided munitions
3. Roketsan Cirit 70 mm Missile System 4. BOZOK Laser-Guided Rockets
5. TOGAN Air-to-surface launched 81 mm mortar munition
6. KUZGUN Modular joint ammunition which has two variants Free Soaring - having a range of 110 km
or around 70 miles and Turbojet Motor equipped one - having a range of 245 km or 150 miles.
As a part of its military modernization program, the Armed Forces of Ukraine
acquired 12 Bayraktar TB2s in 2019. After the successful use of the aircraft,
the Ukrainian Navy had ordered a separate set of 5 additional Bayraktar TB2s,
delivered in 2020 according to navy officials. Meanwhile, Turkish and Ukrainian officials have
announced the establishment of a joint venture to produce 48 additional Bayraktar TB2s in Ukraine.
During a Russian military buildup in Crimea and near Ukraine’s borders, a Bayraktar
TB2 conducted a reconnaissance flight over the Donbas region on 9 April 2021. This was the
first operationalization of the aircraft by the Ukrainian Forces within an active conflict zone.
In October 2021, a Bayraktar TB2 drone was used for the first time in combat during the war,
targeting a Russian separatist artillery position,
destroying a D-30 howitzer, and halting the bombardment of Ukrainian troops near Hranitne.
On March 2, Ukraine’s defense minister Oleksiy Reznikov had announced that new combat-ready TB2s
had arrived in the country as part of a larger international military assistance package.
Slow moving Bayraktar TB2 are vulnerable to attacks by air defense systems,
fighter jets and helicopters. But the failure of Russia to
dominate the skies over Ukraine has helped the drones to operate with limited restrictions.
Some poor tactical maneuvers on part of Russian forces like advancing without air defence, or
not employing advanced electronic warfare systems seem to have magnified the impact of Bayraktar TB2
This is making the TB2 a force multiplier for the Ukrainian military.
Footages of drone strikes shared on social media by Ukrainian forces
and ministers are also playing an important role in Ukraine’s information war.
While on one hand, the videos, often carrying mocking messages in Russian or English, infuse
fear in the enemy, on the other hand they provide a vital morale booster to the Ukrainian forces.