Posted by Introduction
In 2009, James Jeffrey, then the US ambassador in Turkey, wrote in a diplomatic cable:
“Turkey is prepared to engage in targeted killing outside its own borders”.
As a result of this, the US imposed a ban on the export of military technology to Turkey that might enable it to achieve its objective.
This is a story about how despite US’s ban, Turkey managed to achieve its objective by designing, manufacturing, and distributing to the world a weapon, the unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV, or UAV) with the code name TB2 (known also as Bayraktar TB2).
TB2 is designed manufactured and distributed by Baykar, a Turkish arms manufacturing company based in Istanbul.
The TB2 is a weapon with a remarkably efficient cost-benefit ratio in the field, and along with similar weapons, it may very well change modern warfare.
What makes its story even more remarkable is that Turkey, a country with a budget a fraction of the US’s has demonstrated how unmanned platforms change the nature of modern warfare.
What is a TB2
Simply put, TB2 is a drone that has a missile carrying and launching system installed under its wings, that can accommodate 4 MAM-C or MAM-L missiles. These missiles were specially designed for UAVs and light attack aircraft with low payload capacity. These missiles have laser guidance and can engage stationary or moving targets. The MAM-C has a high explosive warhead, while the MAM-L has a thermobaric warhead.
The TB2 made its maiden flight in August 2014.
The key breakthrough came in December 2015, when TB2 successfully fired a rocket for the first time.
It has a wingspan of 12 meters, is powered by a single Rotax 912 engine which develops 105 hp, can fly up to 7,300 meters, loiter in the air for 24 hours, has a range up to 6,000 km, a speed up to 120 km per hour, and carries a payload of 150 kg.
The drone is manufactured in Turkey and is considered the “Toyota Corolla of drones”, as it does right more than 80% of what a drone is supposed to do.
Today there are 257 TB2s in service worldwide. In 2021 TB2 completed 400,000 operational flight hours.
Baykar
Baykar is a company that evolved out of Bayraktar Makina, created in 1986 by engineer Ozdemir Bayraktar to manufacture automotive components.
The founder of the firm died in 2021. His son Haluk Bayraktar is today the CEO of Baykar.
Baykar’s Chief Technology Officer is Selcuk Bayraktar, the other son of Ozdemir, who married Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s daughter Sumeyye in 2016. He has been hailed as a pioneer of what Erdogan calls Ankara’s rapidly developing “local and national” defence sector. President Erdogan may have understated the case. Today Turkey is on its way to become the second biggest user of armed drones in the world.
In September 2019, Bloomberg reported that Baykar planned to invest 600 million liras ($106 million) to increase its production of unmanned aerial vehicles, quoting a presidential decree published in the nation’s official gazette. The investment was aimed at doubling TB2 drone production to 92 units per year, while adding the capacity to manufacture 24 Akinci armed drones and 36 other combat drones.
In March 2022, Baykar tested successfully the Akinci B combat drone (it is a drone that can fly at a higher altitude than the TB2), and is pushing ahead with the next generation of high flying combat drones, the TB3.
TB2s in the Ukrainian Armed Forces
In January 2019 the Ukrainian Army signed a contract to buy 12 TB2s and 3 ground control stations for a total of $69 million. The first batch of the equipment was delivered in March 2019. More TB2s were acquired by the Ukrainian Navy in July 2021.
Before Russia’s invasion in February 2022, there were a total of 20 TB2s in Ukraine. More TB2s were delivered to Ukraine in March 2022 on Turkish Air Force Airbus A400M planes which flew from Ankara to Rzesow in Poland. From there the TB2s were transported by road to Ukraine. Today it is estimated that the Ukrainian armed forces can deploy between up to 50 TB2s.
TB2 is being used in the Ukrainian war, as the Ukrainian armed forces try defend their country against the invading Russian forces. It has been reported that in the Ukrainian front a TB2 with an estimated cost of $2 million has destroyed a Russian surface-to-air missile system that could cost up to $50 million.
TB2 deployment in the world
The TB2 was first exported to Qatar in 2018.
Since then and before Ukraine, the drone has been deployed in active combat zones in Libya, Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, and Syria.
In 2020 Baykar exported UAVs worth $360 million.
In May 2021 Poland became the first EU country to add TB2 to its military arsenal.
Its future appears bright, as military experts foresee the proliferation of expandable UCAVs in combat.