As Turkey’s globally lauded TB2 combat drones continue to make headlines around the world, a fresh analysis contained a grim warning for Russia on its war with Ukraine, whose fleet of Bayraktar UCAVs promise to spell trouble for Moscow amid rising tensions in the region.
According to a report titled “Performance Check: Bayraktar TB2s In Ukraine,” published on Dec. 29 by Oryx Blog, an independent defense journal that relies on open-source intelligence and research, Ukraine’s Turkish-made drones constitute a source of concern for Russia.
“Ukraine's acquisition and subsequent use of the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 has been a cause of significant concern for separatist forces in Eastern Ukraine, and for Russia, which has provided the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) with extensive military support,” according to the report.
The report goes on to point out that Russian air defense systems are incapable of targeting the Bayraktar TB2 drones flying overhead.
“Although separatist forces in Eastern Ukraine operate significant numbers of anti-aircraft (AA) guns and surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems supplied by Russia, including the 9K33 Osa-AKM (NATO designation: SA-8) and the 9K35 Strela-10 (SA-13), these lack the range to target UCAVs like the Bayraktar TB2 flying overhead at some 5000 meters.”
Report authors Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans also touched on the successes achieved by the TB2 drones during the 2020 Karabakh War, when Turkish-made UCAVs regularly destroyed Russian-made vehicles operated by the Armenian army.
“Given the lack of success of even Russia's most modern EW systems in combating the TB2 over Nagorno-Karabakh while in service with the Armenian Army, there is currently little reason to suggest that these would present a grave danger to the operations of the TB2 over any part of Ukraine,” the authors explained.
Turkey’s combat drones had reportedly destroyed the Russian-made Pantsir missile systems in Syria, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh, as Ankara’s deployment of UAVs was credited for the victories clinched by Turkey’s allies from Asia to Africa.
The Bayraktar TB2 armed UAV, which was developed and manufactured by Turkish defense company Baykar Technologies, has been used by the Turkish Armed Forces and the country’s Security Directorate since 2015, most recently credited for Azerbaijan’s military success in the Karabakh conflict.
The authors concluded their study with a dire assessment for Russia, stressing the need for Moscow to diversify after the demonstrated success of Turkish drones against Russian-made defense systems.
“In reality, Russia has to come up with different solutions to effectively counter UCAVs like the TB2s after witnessing their ability to take on most of the air defense systems Russia can muster, including the Pantsir-S1, Tor-M2 and Buk-M2.”
