ANKARA — The
pride of
Ankara, Turkish combat drones were quickly put into action by Ukraine
following Russia’s invasion.
اضافة اعلان
But while they have proved their worth in
several recent conflicts — from Syria to
Libya to Nagorno-Karabakh — the
terrain this time is less favorable, experts say.
Kyiv has around 20 Bayraktar TB2 drones,
built by the Turkish military.
Relatively cheap and effective, President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been their number one salesman, securing deals with
around 15 countries around the world.
The Ukrainian ambassador in Ankara has
regularly tweeted images of explosions attributed to the drones, targeting
Russian columns and artillery, with accompanying phrases like: “
#Bayraktar —
“Mashallah (God be praised)” and strings of joyous emojis.
“These TB2 strikes are, in comparison to
ground combat, relatively small in number, but important for Ukrainian morale
precisely because it shows
Russia does not control the skies,” said Aaron
Stein, of the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
But the positive assessment also rests on
Russia’s surprising reticence to use its full airpower.
“The Russian air campaign has baffled
experts, including myself, who made the incorrect assumption that they would be
far more active over
Ukraine,” said Stein.
Russian air power will overwhelm Ukraine’s
drones “at some point in the near future,” he predicted.
‘21st
century AK47’
Several
conflicts in recent years have offered a shop window for Turkey’s drones.
They were a determining factor in
Nagorno-Karabakh in November 2020, giving Azerbaijan’s forces the edge over Armenia in the
disputed region.
In Libya a year earlier, they were crucial to
repelling a protracted offensive by rebel commander, General Khalifa Haftar,
against the government in
Tripoli.
Turkey has also deployed drones against
Kurdish militants and government forces in Syria — the latter backed by Russia.
“Hardy, reliable, competitive,” gushes a
Western competitor, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Turkey has reinvented the Kalashnikov of the
21st century,” they added — a reference to the AK-47 rifle created by the
Soviet Union that flooded war zones around the world due to its ease of use and
cheap price tag.
‘Stunning
upset’
The
TB2 is 6.5m long and half the weight of its
US counterpart, the Reaper,
carrying four laser-guided munitions.
Its maker Baykar says it can fly for 27
hours, at up to 220km per hour, and is operational between 18,000 and 25,000
feet.
“The fact that a relatively light and
inexpensive drone could not only evade but actively search out and destroy
modern surface-to-air missile and electronic warfare systems, while suffering
little losses in return, has rightfully garnered worldwide attention,” said
Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans, of the specialist
ORYX blog.
“The result of the TB2’s entry into combat
was a stunning upset of the status quo, forcing many countries to rethink their
approach to defense.”
‘Just
not enough’
However,
Ukraine’s inventory is limited.
It lost at least one drone in the first days
of the conflict, said Sinan Ulgen, of the Edam think tank in Istanbul.
And although deals had been signed to produce
Turkish drones in Ukraine, work had yet to begin and it is unclear if further
drones are available for purchase.
Kyiv used the TB2 for the first time last
October to strike a Russian separatist artillery position in the Donbas region
of eastern Ukraine.
Read more Region and World
.jpg)
.jpg)
