Baykar Bayraktar TB2
Bayraktar TB2 is a family of medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned combat aerial vehicles capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations. It is manufactured by the Turkish company Baykar for the Turkish Armed Forces and export markets. The aircraft are monitored and controlled by an aircrew in a ground control station, including weapons employment. The development of the UAV has been largely credited to Selçuk Bayraktar, a former MIT graduate student along with his brother Haluk Bayraktar. It is the world's first UCAV in the world that successfully performs a barrel roll and also an autonomous spin recovery maneuver. It is the most produced and export-successful UCAV in the world. Baykar now has a production capacity of 250 Bayraktar TB2s per year and is aiming to increase the production capacity to 500 per year. Baykar is also going to start a production line for the Bayraktar TB2 along with the Bayraktar Akıncı at its Italy-based subsidiary, Piaggio Aerospace. New production lines for the Bayraktar TB2 are going to start by the equal joint venture company established by Baykar and Leonardo known as , along with the Bayraktar TB3, Bayraktar Akıncı and Bayraktar Kızılelma.
By December 2024, the TB2 drone had completed 1 million flight hours globally. The largest operator of TB2 drones is the Turkish military, and the drone was exported to the militaries of at least 34 other countries. Turkey has used the drone extensively in strikes on Kurdistan Workers' Party and People's Protection Units targets in Iraq and Syria. Bayraktar drones were later deployed by a number of other nations around the world in various wars, such as by Azerbaijan in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, by the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as by the Ethiopian National Defense Force during the Tigray war.
Bayraktar TB2 played a fundamental role in Turkey's development of a new military tactic and initiated a wave of change in modern military doctrines. It was accepted as the initiator of a new method of war by many military analysts and strategists, including the political scientist Francis Fukuyama.
Development
The development of the Bayraktar TB2 was spurred by a U.S. ban on exports of armed unmanned aircraft to Turkey due to concerns that they would be used against PKK groups inside and outside Turkey.Baykar started developing a new combat tactical aerial vehicle system at the request of the Presidency of Defense Industries, after the experiences of its first tactical UAV, the Bayraktar Çaldıran or Bayraktar TB1, delivered to the Turkish army in 2011. The Bayraktar TB2 made its maiden flight in August 2014. On 18 December 2015, a video was published of a test firing of a missile from the Bayraktar TB2, a result of a collaboration with Roketsan. Roketsan's MAM and TUBITAK-SAGE's BOZOK laser-guided bombs were tested for the first time.
Components and technologies
The aircraft previously relied on imported and regulated components and technologies such as Rotax 912 engines and optoelectronics. Bombardier Recreational Products, owner of Rotax, suspended delivery of their engines to certain countries in October 2020, after becoming aware of their military use despite being certified for civil use only.According to the British newspaper The Guardian, the arming of the Bayraktar TB2 would not have been possible without the help of the UK Hornet micro-munitions bomb rack by EDO MBM Technology Ltd. The bomb rack was provided to Turkey in 2015, and a variant of it was integrated into the aircraft by EDO MBM and Roketsan. In response to The Guardian newspaper article, Baykar Chief Technical Officer Selçuk Bayraktar denied that the bomb rack came from the UK. "We are not buying it from you, we never did. It not only does not work under any circumstances but is also very expensive", Bayraktar said on Twitter. "We have designed and manufactured a more advanced and cost-effective one ourselves."
On 19 August 2020 the UK Department for International Trade disclosed details of a six-year history of exports of the Hornet bomb rack to Turkey between 2014 and 2020, suggesting that supply of the critical technology to Turkey had continued well beyond the development stage of the Bayraktar TB2 and right up to the publication of the Guardian story in November 2019. 18 Standard Individual Export Licence applications were submitted by EDO MBM Technology between 2014 and 2020 for exports of goods 'related to Hornet Bomb Racks / Hornet Missile Launchers' for end-users in Turkey. Of these, 16 of the licences were granted.
In October 2020, the drone's use of the Canadian Wescam MX-15D system was disclosed after Armenian officials claimed that remains of a MX-15D system had been recovered from a downed TB2 drone during the nation's conflict with Azerbaijan. That triggered the stopping of MX-15D exports to Turkey while an investigation by Global Affairs Canada evaluates the use of Canadian technology in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Turkish industry responded to foreign sales boycotts by announcing provision of domestically manufactured alternatives, including the TM100 and TEI-PD170 engines, fuel valves, and the FLIR system. Turkish defense industry researcher Kadir Doğan tweeted that cancellation of sales of components to Baykar by foreign companies did not pose a major problem, and that, as of January 2021, all of those components have been replaced by locally manufactured alternatives.
While the initial alternative Aselsan CATS electro-optical turret faced problems in export market regarding its weight compared to the Wescam MX-15D, Aselsan developed a successor system, the , to address these performance parameters. The ASELFLIR-500 offers improved performance with a reduced weight of approximately 52 kg. The system has since been integrated into the Bayraktar TB2 and other platforms. The system features a 4096x2880 high-definition camera, alongside high-definition MWIR and SWIR sensors for long-range detection. Following its development, ASELSAN exported ASELFLIR 500 system to more than 20 countries including NATO members.
Characteristics
Design
The Bayraktar TB2 platform has a blended wing body design with an inverted V-tail structure. Thrust is generated by a variable pitch two-blade propeller in pusher configuration. The propeller is mounted between the tail booms and driven by an internal combustion engine located in the body. The monocoque platform is modular with detachable main items such as wing, tail boom, and V-tails. Fuselage pieces are made mostly of carbon fiber composite with machined aluminum parts at joints. Fuel is stored within bladder tanks and fuel consumption is balanced with solenoid valves.The ground control station is based on a NATO-spec shelter unit, which is equipped with cross-redundant command and control systems. The mobile unit supports three personnel: pilot, payload operator, and mission commander. The GCS is equipped with redundant air conditioners and nuclear, biological, and chemical filtration filtering units. All hardware inside the shelter is placed inside racked cabinets. Each operator has dual screens in front, along with the operator interface software used for real-time command, control, and monitoring.
While the Turkish Armed Forces describe Bayraktar TB2 as "Tactical UAV Class" to prevent it from being a competitor to the TAI Anka UAV, international standards would classify it as a medium-altitude long-endurance UAV.
Configuration
Each TB2 is configured with six aerial vehicle platforms, two ground control stations, three ground data terminals, two remote video terminals, and ground support equipment. Each aerial platform is equipped with a triply-redundant avionics system. Its ground control system's cross-redundant architecture allows for pilot, payload operator, and mission commander to command, control, and monitor the platform.Digital flight control system
The TB2 has a triple-redundant flight control system with autonomous taxi, takeoff, cruise, landing, and parking capability. The computerized flight control system is the primary component, programmed with sensor fusion algorithms that act on real-time sensor data. Mission-specific controls are handled through the mission-control computer system. The aerial platform is guided using various redundant rotary and linear servo actuators. All of the main airborne avionics equipment, software, and hardware are under constant development.The electronic power supply for the onboard systems is supported with triple alternators and balanced, smart lithium-ion battery units. A ruggedized heated camera unit is placed in the tail section of the platform to monitor flight, and all payload and telemetry data are saved to the airborne data recorder. The redundant architecture of the avionics supports autonomous emergency landings on different airfields if necessary. Sensor fusion algorithms, including an inertial navigation system, allow navigation and auto landing even with loss of global positioning signals.
Price
Baykar has not stated a price, but has republished on its website several news reports about crowdfunding campaigns launched in 2022 in Europe to buy Bayraktar UAVs for Ukraine, all of them fixing a goal of around US$5–5.5 million for the unit.That is around one-sixth of the price for the US-built Reaper UAV, albeit with the TB2 capable of carrying only one-tenth the payload of the Reaper.
Operational history
Turkey
The Turkish military's use of the TB2 gained prominence in counterinsurgency operations against sites of the Kurdistan Workers' Party and People's Protection Units that were in Iraq and Syria.On 30 June 2018, one Turkish Air Force Bayraktar TB2 crashed due to technical problems in Hatay province, Turkey.
On 15 August 2018, Turkish Land Forces successfully used a Bayraktar TB2 in a joint cross-border operation, of the Turkish Armed Forces and the National Intelligence Organization of Turkey, to kill the senior leader and board member of the Kurdistan Communities Union İsmail Özden in Sinjar District, northwestern Iraq.
On 16 May 2021, one Bayraktar TB2 crashed in Zebari, northern Iraq; Kurdish militants claimed to have shot down the drone.
A total of 37 Turkish Bayraktar TB2s successfully flew over 1551 hours in the earthquake zone of the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake. The drones have been instrumental in providing continuous updates and data to the crisis-response team for damage detection and search-and-rescue support, along with coordination activities.
On 20 June 2023, a Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone crashed in Qandil, northern Iraq. The wreck fell in an area under Kurdish militia control.