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| Buyers of Turkey's Bayraktar TB2 Drone Have to Wait Up to Three Years |
Ankara - The drone named Bayraktar TB2 is an unmanned platform made in Turkey. This drone is assigned to the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) mission. In addition to ISR duties, the Bayraktar TB2 drone is also often used for armed missions.
Quoted from Breaking Defense, this compact drone has a length of about 39 feet and a wingspan of 21 feet. The drone can also fly at an operational altitude of 18,000 feet. The onboard avionics suite on the Bayraktar TB2 allows it to take off, land and fly automatically.
Then for attack missions, TB2 is able to execute targets with the onboard laser designator. TB2 will also attack enemies with conventional ammunition, namely four smart missiles.
Another advantage of this drone is that the operator can see what is caught on camera clearly. This is because Bayraktar TB2 has a feature called Baykar Real Time Imagery Transmission System (BGAM). With BGAM, drones can real-time “broadcast” the state of war at high resolution. And to control it remotely, it is equipped with the Baykar Mobile Ground Control Station (Mobile GCS).
Its ability is no longer in doubt because this attack drone has even become a prima donna for Ukraine in dealing with Russia. Ukraine is known to have received 6 TB2 units from Turkey before the conflict with Russia occurred. The reason is, Ukraine has started ordering this drone since 2019.
To date, the Ukrainian Air and Navy has received a total of about 20 drones. It should be noted that the TB2 is the country's only attack drone.
In addition, this unmanned system has attracted worldwide attention for successfully destroying the famous Russian artillery and armored vehicles. "The Ukrainian army's TB2 drone strike has dealt serious damage to Russian defenses," said Arda Mevlütoğlu, Turkey's Military and Aerospace Analyst.
The Guardian said that the ship Moskva sank in the Black Sea in mid-April. It is known that this large ship met fierce resistance from the Ukrainian coastal forces. Kyiv soldiers flooded Moscow with Neptune missiles and Bakraktar drones came to outwit the ship's defense systems.
"Neptune's missiles guarding the Black Sea caused very serious damage. Damage to the ship's hull was very severe due to fire after receiving missile attacks, coupled with stormy conditions at sea," said Maksym Marchenko, governor of Odesa.
In the last two years, Turkey's Bayraktar TB2 drones appeared not only in Ukraine, but also in Ethiopia, Azerbaijan, Libya and Syria.
"In recent years, Bayraktar drones have scored several successes over conflicts in various countries, Bayraktar is the most famous drone in the world" said Tony Osborne, Head of the London Bureau.
Due to its extraordinary performance in the current Libya to Ukraine war, the Bayraktar TB2 drone is in great demand by the world. According to Baykar's CEO, it took a potential buyer 3 years to get this great drone. “High demand from all over the world has caused customers to wait up to 3 years for Bayraktar TB2,” he said.
Indirectly, the performance of this drone on the battlefield becomes an advertising medium to the whole world. Thus, the company Baykar received high demand from customers who wanted to buy the unmanned platform from Turkey.
Quoted from Defense Security Asia, this drone manufacturer is able to produce 20 units per month. However, he hopes that the new facility in Ukraine will support the production of the Bayraktar TB2 drone. The facilities owned by the Baykar company in Ukraine, include a research and development center.