turkey's powerful baraktar tb2 drone against russia in ukraine
in a video that went viral on twitter sunday night a massive explosion rips through what
appears to be a russian convoy scoring a direct hit on a surface-to-air missile system
the black-and-white footage posted to the account of the ukrainian armed forces
is one of several that have emerged on social media in recent days showing the devastating
impact of ukrainian drone strikes on russian hardware as the drone's payload explodes in the
video which appears to be a cell phone recording of a screen in a ukrainian drone facility
people at the facility can be heard gasping in awe before breaking out in cheers in applause
the video racked up more than three million views on twitter in two days
have fear enemies there will be no peace for you on our earth the ukrainian armed forces
wrote in the video's caption the star of this video and others circulating on twitter as the
baraktar tb2 a type of turkish drone that the ukrainian military has increasingly deployed
against russian forces in recent days on tuesday the ukrainian military said that bayrochtar drones
had destroyed one tank and two surface-to-air missile systems overnight in other videos shared
on twitter bayraktar drones in use by the military since at least 2021 are shown blowing up what
appears to be a russian fuel convoy and a group of supply trucks the drones are small and lightweight
around seven times lighter than the us military's reaper drone with a 12 meter wingspan that allows
them to remain in the sky for up to 30 hours at a time each drone can each carry four laser-guided
missiles according to promotional material from baker technologies the company that produces them
ukraine's drone campaign has contributed to its early successes in slowing the russian advance
and is revealing unexpected weaknesses on the part of the russian army u.s and european military
analysts say perhaps more significantly analysts add the videos are also becoming an increasingly
prominent part of ukraine's information war giving russian invaders a reason to fear their
enemy and providing a vital boost for ukrainian morale amid fears of a coming military onslaught
even so the drones are unlikely to change the long-term course of the war analysts point
out the footage released by the ukraine military shows serious defects in russian air defense cover
which is a surprise for many observers says artem lutolu a turkish military and
aerospace analyst the footage is also very useful for pr and psychological warfare
reliable and accurate military drones were once the exclusive purview of the us military
but the technology has become more commonplace in recent years and is now a fixture of many
21st century battlefields and turkey is now the preeminent supplier in the last two years turkish
baraktar drones have appeared not only in ukraine but also ethiopia azerbaijan libya and syria
last year in ethiopia a rebel force was bearing down on the capital addis ababa before the
government repelled them with the drones in the conflict between azerbaijan and armenia in 2020
turkish drones proved decisive in the azeri victory against armenia a russian ally
in recent years the bayrocktars have scored some really famous successes
says tony osborne the london bureau chief of aviation week a publication focused on
the aerospace industry i would argue that it's now the most famous drone of them all
foreign
you