Source : Indian Defence Analysis
Once a rising star, Turkish flagbearer Bayraktar TB2 UCAV vanishes from the arena of Ukraine war
From the war between Armenia & Azerbaijan to the on on-going Russia-Ukraine war, The Bayraktar TB2 tactical UAV has been quite in news. Currently, 257 Bayraktar platforms are in service with Turkey, Qatar, Ukraine and Azerbaijan.
The UAV has been developed by Turkish firm Baykar Technologies. Bayraktar TB2 is a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE), Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle capable of conducting Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) and armed attack missions.
The UAV has Operational Altitude of 18,000 Feet & max altitude of 25,000 Feet with endurance of Max 27 Hours. It features Fully Automatic Flight Control and 3 Redundant Autopilot System (Triple Redundant), Fully Automatic Landing and Take-off Feature Without Dependence on Ground Systems, Navigation with Internal Sensor Fusion Without Dependency on GPS.
Bayraktar TB2 holds the record in the Turkish aviation history for endurance (with 27 hours 3 minutes) and for altitude (with 25,030 feet). It has speed between 70 knot – 120 knot.
The UAV has payload capacity of 150 kg and carry 4 Laser Guided Smart Ammunition. It can also carry ISR payloads such as Switchable EO/IR/LD or Multi-Purpose AESA Radar.
Bayraktar TB2 in Russia Ukraine war
The Bayraktar TB2 has also been extensively used during the Russia Ukraine war and become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance against Russia. Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov revealed in late June that Ukraine has received 50 UAVs from Baykar since Russia’s February 24 invasion. Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drone was even seen during a rehearsal of a military parade for Independence Day in Ukraine in August 2021.
In early days of Russia Ukraine war, The Ukrainian military officer Valery Zaluzhny has also said that two TB2s neutralized $26.5 million in Russian military assets in just three days.
By late June 2022, Ukraine had lost a lot of TB-2 UAVs, evident by the scores of photos and videos published by pro-Russian and Russian government accounts on social media. The initial tactical success of the UAV soon started to fall apart in the contested air space.
Once a celebrated UAV, has completely been out action. What has changed?
On 10th April 2023, the Russian media outlet TASS has reported that more than 100 Bayraktar-TB2 drones, supplied to Ukraine, have been destroyed during the special operation.
After Russia effectively deployed its electronic warfare and layered air defense systems the TB2 drones started to lose its effectiveness in the theater of operations. The electronic warfare developed by Russia has capabilities to disable and jam most GPS signals and highly encrypted radio frequencies which is required for the operation of UAVs.
Russia has deployed various early warning radars which is used to determine the UAVs location. Their transmission is interfered with and jammed using electronic warfare weapons. Moscow also deployed variety of hard kill measures such as machine guns and air defense systems, like the Tor & Pantsir missile system, to shoot down UAVs. Russian Pantsir is reported to be one of the reasons of reluctance of US defense officials to send the costly MQ-1C Gray Eagle drones to Ukraine. Once a rising star, Turkish flagbearer Bayraktar TB2 UCAV vanishes from the arena of Ukraine war Once a rising star, Turkish flagbearer Bayraktar TB2 UCAV vanishes from the arena of Ukraine war Once a rising star, Turkish flagbearer Bayraktar TB2 UCAV vanishes from the arena of Ukraine war Once a rising star, Turkish flagbearer Bayraktar TB2 UCAV vanishes from the arena of Ukraine war IgMp Ukraine war
