IS THE FAMOUS TB2 BAYRAKTAR THE BEST DRONE IN UKRAINE?

George Hand

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Turkey and America are allies and members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and have among the most formidable armies in NATO. Turkey is not allied with Russia, hence it can block off access in and out of the Black Sea by way of the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara which connects to the Mediterranean.

Political science is a subject that I find personally daunting. To me, it would send computer code programmers sprinting the wrong way down a one-way street. I tend to parry the heavily political aspects of (the) war and lean on the tactical and strategic components to paint a picture of essential maneuvers. The war in Ukraine is different than any war before it for the extensive use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAV) — drones.

Enter TB2 Bayraktar: it rather blew me away to see and learn about this fully formidable Turkish un-piloted drone that can master the skies of its choice. Its first official act in the Ukrainian combat theater of operations was to whip a** on a strip of Russian-held tactical field repairs. Where had this Bayraktar drone been all our lives?

What makes the TB2 Bayraktar so formidable?

A TB2 Bayraktar of the Ukrainian military. (Ukrainian Ministry of Defense)

Is it safe to say I think this is the best drone in the war of Russian aggression against Ukraine… no! There is so much ‘dronery’ out there. I would be petrified to be assigned the job of evaluating them all to determine the very best drone on the playing field. What’s more, there exists the ability to “build” a drone designed to fly to a specialized mission.

The twelve characteristics below can be used to judge the worth of a drone model on the battlefield:

1. Weight

2. Size

3. Altitude capability

4. Speed: cruise to dash and duration at dash

5. Weight of carriable payload

6. Target loiter time

7. Duration of flight under a full mission profile

8. Physical durability

9. Duration of operator training time

10. Noise level at cruise speed

11. Noise level at dash speed

12. Overall build complexity and repairability

That’s my list, although geeks will probably have to step forward and make it 25 times longer.

I assigned a value of 1-10 to each of the above characteristics, add them all together, and compare them to the armada of drones I have selected (or was ordered) to evaluate. And the winner is… well, for this paper the winner is the TB2 Bayraktar!

The killing machine’s main characteristics are the following:

Maximum Speed: 160 KIAS Dash

Cruise Speed: 125 KIAS Cruise

Payload Capacity: 620 pounds

Wing span: 46 Ft

Length: 27.4 Ft

In the video below, you can watch some of the drone’s capabilities put to use in the war in Ukraine: