Cheap but lethal Turkish drones bolster Ukraine’s defenses in war
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Despite three weeks of Russian bombardment, Ukraine has kept up a stiff defense of its cities by using Turkish-made drones to carry out pop-up attacks on the invaders with a lethal effectiveness that has surprised Western military experts.
The Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles, which carry lightweight, laser-guided bombs, normally excel in low-tech conflicts, and Turkey has sold them to more than a dozen countries, including Azerbaijan, Libya, Morocco and Ethiopia.
The drones have carried out unexpectedly successful attacks in the early stages of Ukraine's conflict with Moscow, before the Russians were able to set up their air defenses in the battlefield, said Jack Watling of the London-based Royal United Services Institute.
"The (TB2s) shouldn't be making a meaningful impact because they are medium altitude, slow-flying aircraft with a large electromagnetic signature and a large radar cross-section. And the Russians have very capable air defense systems, so they should be being shot down. The terrain is very open and gives good radar coverage," Watling added.
He said Ukrainian forces "have been essentially flying in at a lowlevel and then coming up and raiding with them. So striking targets of opportunity."
Over time, as the Russians get more organized and push out their air defenses, Watling said "the freedom to employ those drones is diminishing. And so what we are now seeing is that the Ukrainians are having to be careful as to when they commit them."
In a briefing to Parliament on March 9, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace praised the drones, along with other weapons donated to Ukraine by the West.
"One of the ways they are delivering close air support or actual fire in depth is through the Turkish TB2 UAVs, which are delivering munitions onto their artillery and indeed their supply lines, which are incredibly important in order to slow down or block the Russian advance," Wallace said.
The drones also have scored success on social media. Their aerial video of the destruction of Russian armored vehicles has become a key tool for Ukraine's information war.
Vasyl Bodnar, Ukraine's ambassador to Turkey, shared videos of drone attacks on Twitter, including one that appeared to show a convoy of destroyed Russian military vehicles.
"Masallah" or "Praise be" he wrote in a caption on one of the videos.
A video using a song titled "Bayraktar" with sounds of explosions timed to coincide with the beats has been uploaded on YouTube and played on Ukrainian radio.
"So as long as they still fly in, as long as they're still armed, they will be useful. They will mostly be useful for the propaganda side," said Aaron Stein, director of research at the U.S.-based Foreign Policy Research Institute. "The videos have enraptured people because you can see an airstrike in high definition."
Turkey began selling the TB2 drones to Ukraine in 2019, and Kyiv used them in fighting Russianbacked separatists in the eastern Donbas region — a move that Moscow called "destabilizing."
Turkish officials have refused to disclose details of the drone sales to Ukraine, including how many were involved and whether Kyiv is being resupplied. Independent estimates put the number of TB2s in Ukraine at between 20 and 50. "I think Turkey's actually in the front, but not at the center, at least not publicly, of this conflict," said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program and senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in Washington D.C. "Its official policy regarding the war is what I would call 'pro-Ukraine neutrality.' It acts neutral. It wants the war to end, but it is militarily helping Ukraine. ... It has been selling these killer drones to Ukraine that are apparently doing an amazing job."