A patriotic song was even dedicated to them. The Bayraktar TB2 armed drones have established themselves since the start of the offensive in February as one of the most formidable weapons of the Ukrainian army against the Russian invader. And for good reason, this machine made in Turkey, with a wingspan of 12 meters and weighing 650 kilos, can fly at an altitude of 6,800 meters for up to 24 consecutive hours at more than 220 km/h. Its skills: transporting four missiles, reconnaissance, hitting targets… Multiple capabilities that make this weapon, the flagship of Turkish industry, a symbol of Ukrainian resistance but also of modern warfare 2.0.
These devices would have allowed the Ukrainians to destroy two Russian Raptor-class boats on Monday, May 2. An operation supported by images communicated on Facebook by the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces Valeri Zaloujny and deemed credible by Dominique Trinquand, former head of the French military mission to the UN: “The patrol boats are small buildings, between 15 and 17 meters long, which generally circulate not far from the shores. They are therefore quite reachable by these drones.” It is also said that these Bayraktar drones played a role in the disappearance of the Russian cruiser Moskva which sank in the Black Sea on April 15. “More this time to gather information on the ship, than to launch the missiles, completes the specialist. The missiles of the TB2 are too light to sink a boat of this type.”
“This weapon can change the course of an operation”
The Ukrainian army would have about twenty of them. “This weapon is truly the star of Turkish drones, analyzes Pierre Servent, a specialist in defense and military strategy issues. With its great firepower and wide flexibility, it can change the course of an operation.” He recalls his key role during the wars in Syria, Libya, and between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. “It sells all over the world,” he continues. It must also be said that its price defies all competition: “A Bayraktar TB2 is four to five times cheaper than an American armed drone (less than two million dollars, editor’s note)”, assesses General Dominique Trinquand.
The Turkish company Baykar Makina has been selling the weapon since 2014. It is headed by Selçuk Bayraktar, also son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Can these drone deliveries call into question the balancing act that Turkey has been playing between Russia and Ukraine since the start of the conflict? For General Dominique Trinquand, this is not the question.
The Bayraktar, “star of Turkish drones”
Dario Ingiusto / L’Express
“Turkey, and President Erdogan himself, always act according to their own interests, he decides. We are thirteen months away from a presidential election. Erdogan is therefore not going to say no to the possibility of bailing out Turkey. national economy.” He also recalls why Turkey retains its role as a privileged intermediary between the two countries: “As a member of NATO and guarantor of the Montreux agreements, it must show its support for Ukraine. It retains however, certain latitudes in refusing to apply Western sanctions against Russia and its oligarchs.”
Complementarity of drones
On this point, it is interesting to underline, recalls Pierre Servent, that Turkey and Ukraine had announced in 2021 the forthcoming installation of a Bayraktar drone factory in Ukraine. “We forget it, but Ukraine also benefits from know-how in aeronautics, he explains. It was inherited from the Soviet Union.” According to him, this demonstrates that kyiv and Istanbul were getting closer. “This partly played a role in Vladimir Putin’s decision to go to war. Because with this type of armament, the Ukrainians could have completely taken over the Donbass region in the long term,” he says.
Precisely today, can these drones allow the Ukrainians to take the advantage in the Donbass, where most of the conflicts are concentrated today? No, according to the two experts. Even if they each recall the symbolic force that this type of machine maintains compared to the image of the Russian army, it is more frozen in the 20th century. “It is more the multiplicity and the complementarity of the drones which will make the difference in the long term”, summarizes Dominique Trinquand. Both are now relying on American Switchblade suicide drones. Smaller, lighter, these bombs work in swarms. They are therefore more difficult to target and can do a lot of damage.