"Warbird from Turkey" against Russian army: how Bayraktar TB2 helps AFU

The Bayraktar TB2 reconnaissance and strike drone became one of the few foreign models of modern weapons and military equipment that entered the service of the Ukrainian Armed Forces before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

The first contract for the supply of 2 complexes (a total of 6 drones, 2 control stations and 200 guided missiles) was signed in 2018, and in March 2019, all 6 Bayraktar TB2s entered service with the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Subsequently, in 2020, Ukraine announced its desire to purchase another batch of Bayraktar TB2. In July 2021, at least 1 complex was already received by the Naval Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. They received an updated version of the UAV with a range of 300 km (versus 150 km in the standard version), as well as a maritime control station as part of the system (including mobile and stationary). 

It is difficult to say how many Bayraktar TB2 drones the AFU have today, given that the exact number of delivered UAVs is not disclosed. But at the end of June, Ukraine’s Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov noted that since February 24, 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have received up to 50 units of Bayraktar TB2 UAVs from Turkey under contracts and Ukraine plans to purchase dozens more.

Finally, it is worth mentioning the "flashmob" launched by Lithuania in May to purchase Bayraktar TB2 UAVs for the Armed Forces of Ukraine by raising funds through a crowdfunding campaign - more than USD 5 million needed to purchase one UAV was raised in 3.5 days, while the Turkish company Baykar Makina announced that it would donate the drone free of charge.

The campaign was later joined by Poland, Norway, Canada and Latvia. At the same time, in Ukraine, in June, the People's Bayraktar campaign, organized by the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation and blogger Ihor Lachenkov, was launched: in 3 days, they managed to raise UAH 600 million for the purchase of 4 Bayraktar TB2 UAVs. Three of them were donated by Baykar Makina, while the funds raised were used to purchase the ICEYE satellite. 

Another Bayraktar TB2 complex (3 UAVs, a control station, ammunition and other equipment) was purchased by Come Back Alive, a foundation that provides support to AFU service members, for the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine for USD 16.5 million. 

Tactical and technical characteristics of Bayraktar TB2

The drone is equipped with a Rotax 912 engine (but Turkey planned to replace them with engines of its own production), has an autonomy of 27 hours and can reach a maximum speed of 222 km/h (cruising - 130 km/h). It has the following dimensions: wingspan - 12 m, length - 6.5 m, height - 2.2 m. Maximum take-off weight - 650 kg, can carry 150 kg of payload, of which 55 kg is an optoelectronic station. The service ceiling of the drone is 8,200 m.

Bayraktar TB2 reconnaissance and strike drone, photo: gettyimages

The control of this drone is carried out from a ground station mounted on a vehicle. And here it is worth noting such an interesting point - these stations can "transfer" control of Bayraktar TB2 from one to another. Thus, it is possible to expand the operational range of this drone with the help of control stations. At the same time, the radius of communication with the control center of the drone is 150 km, in the updated version - up to 300 km.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine hit Russian troops with Bayraktar TB2 with a number of high-precision ammunition, MAM-C, photo: ukrmilitary

The main weapons of Bayraktar TB2 are high-precision ammunition MAM-L and MAM-C. The MAM-L ammunition has a semi-active laser beam guidance system and can hit a target with a probable circular deviation of no more than 1 m. Weight - 22 kg, of which 8-10 kg is the warhead, range - up to 14 km. At the same time, MAM-C is, in fact, a 70-mm adjusted Cirit missile without an engine. It weighs 6.5 kg, of which 2.5 kg is the warhead. The range is up to 8 kg. Among the weapons options are also possible UMTAS anti-tank missiles, TUBITAK-SAGE BOZOK missiles, TUBITAK-SAGE TOGAN bombs, etc. 

Bayraktar TB2 in the war in Ukraine

From the first days of the full-scale invasion, the Bayraktar TB2 reconnaissance and strike drone has become a real threat to the Russian occupation forces, despite the presence of numerous air defense systems in the Russian army. On February 24, the Turkish drone found its first targets: 2 tanks hit by an accurate strike of high-precision MAM-L ammunition.

And on February 26, information (and later a video) appeared that Bayraktar TB2 destroyed an entire railway train with fuel and lubricants - and this, without exaggeration, helped to significantly slow down the advance of Russian troops in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions.

Bayraktar TB2 also became a direct participant in the liberation of Snake Island - the Turkish drone destroyed Russian Raptor boats, Tor anti-aircraft missile systems, and hit a Russian Mi-8 during an attempt to land on the island.

At the same time, Bayraktar TB2 destroyed almost a record amount of equipment in a short period of time after the Armed Forces of Ukraine received HARM anti-radar missiles, which somewhat cleared the sky for the drone. As the AFU’s Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi reported, from August 31 to September 2, 2 Bayraktar TB2s destroyed Russian equipment worth USD 26.5 million. In general, according to the Oryx portal, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Russian Federation has lost more than 90 targets as a result of Turkish drone strikes.

At the same time, it is also worth mentioning that the main function of this drone is not striking, but reconnaissance, for which these drones are primarily used on the battlefield. And here Bayraktar TB2 can also boast of quite decent performance, because it can distinguish enemy equipment from 50 km away and determine its coordinates so that artillerymen can destroy it with accurate fire. 

Oleksiy Levkov, Defense Express - exclusively for Espreso TV.