turkish bay rocktar tb2 drones have become a symbol of resistance for kiev
the name beraktar has become folklore of ukraine's resistance against russian invasion
as the fleet of turkish made bherkhtar tb2 drones belonging
to the ukrainian armed forces continues to eliminate russian tanks and convoys
today ukraine's tb2 drone fleet is arguably the most potent force against russian armed forces as
after more than a month into the war the ukrainian airspace remains contested thanks in large part
to turkish-made drones initially many doubted if the tb2s their ground stations and operators would
survive the aerial strikes that preceded the russian ground assault but as it turns out the
drone force dispersed from its permanent bases for example meek alive in southern ukraine to smaller
facilities and managed to remain intact reports suggest that by march 20th close to 60 tanks
air defense systems helicopters supply trucks and trains were taken out by tb2 strikes the real
number remains unknown as of yet as ukraine wants to keep secret where and how often its drones are
striking for operational reasons ukrainians have conducted their drone campaign in stages
firstly the tb2s were used to neutralize the short-range air defense systems such as bucks
tours and a panzer that were protecting russian tank formations and supply convoys
once they were free of russian air defenses the ukrainians
began deploying their tb2s for their other two important tasks for reconnaissance and
close air support wrote tom cooper an author and expert on the russian military moreover
there does not seem to be any limitation on tb2's operational area within the ukrainian
war zone as videos depicting drone strikes have come from as far south as kerasan and as far north
as the kiev's suburbs this suggests that turkey has provided ukraine with the latest version of
the tb2 with satellite communications capability as well as access to turksat satellites because
the alternative line of sight radio can take a drone only as far as 100 miles or so
while longer range russian sams s 300s and s 400s are still intact they seem to find it difficult to
spot the tb2s as ukrainian operators fly their drones at low altitudes below the horizon of
long-range radars until it's time to attack even when they fly high their small size and low noise
also make it difficult for many radar operators and even the infrared sensors to detect them in
the last 45 days the bayrocktar tb2s have become much more than a piece of military equipment
the drones are now an inspiration for ukrainians to stand firm against russian aggression
turkish military analyst artem lutolu equated the drones fight against larger russian equipment with
a david versus goliath battle this might be the reason why the ukrainian military gives them so
much emphasis in their public relations campaign mavlutolu said footage showing destroyed equipment
particularly sophisticated equipment or slain enemy troops multiply the psychological effect
even if not much equipment is destroyed the dissemination of such imagery through social
media creates a snowball effect which is very useful for propaganda warfare over the years
the baraktar tb2s have strike emerged as a persistent thorn on the russian side as
turkish drones have been appearing on the opposite side of the battlefields in syria
libya azerbaijan and now ukraine increasing the odds significantly against russia
in late 2020 azerbaijan successfully used turkish drones during the nagorno-karabakh war to knock
out no less than 567 tanks in other vehicles belonging to armenia a russian ally that enabled
baku to absorb 40 of the disputed nagorno-karabakh region likewise during the libyan civil war
turkish drones helped the government of national accord upend the siege of tripoli by khalifa
haftar led libyan national army which was heavily backed by russia in syria turkish drones have kept
the russian-backed forces from overtaking italy the last rebel-held province in syria
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