Insider
May 30, 2022

‘The whole world’ is racing to buy the drones that have helped Ukrainians obliterate Russian tanks and missile launchers, their designer says

“The whole world” wants to buy the Bayraktar TB2 drone, its designer recently told Reuters.

Turkish firm Baykar Technologies designed the aerial weapon, which launches laser-guided missiles.

The drone has been used to devastating effect by Ukrainians repelling Russian ground forces.

Since the Russian invasion began in February, a powerful Turkish-made drone has helped Ukrainian defense forces thwart their enemy on the ground over and over again.

Now, inspired by Ukraine’s success, armies around the world are clamoring to get their hands on the devastating aerial weapon, its creator recently said.

“The whole world is a customer” seeking to obtain the Bayraktar TB2 drone, its designer, Selcuk Bayraktar, told Reuters in an interview.

“Bayraktar TB2 is doing what it was supposed to do – taking out some of the most advanced anti-aircraft systems and advanced artillery systems and armored vehicles,” Bayraktar added while speaking at a recent exhibition in Azerbaijan.

…The younger Bayraktar, who serves as the company’s chief technology officer, is the son-in-law of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

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The drones have been so effective at helping Ukraine repel Russian forces that Mikhail Podolyak, a senior Ukrainian official and advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky, hailed the drones as “super-weapons” in a social media post alongside Bayraktar in March….

Bayraktar expressed satisfaction with the weapon’s widespread use in the Ukraine conflict, telling Reuters: “It is an illegal invasion so [the drone] is helping the honorable people of Ukraine defend their country.”

[T]he TB2 has been used in other conflict zones including Syria, Libya, and Iraq, and has gone on to become a cornerstone of “Turkey’s global defense export push.”

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[T]here’s no doubt that the use of the Bayraktar drone in Ukraine has put Baykar Technologies on the global map for offensive weapons technology.

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Baykar’s Akinci drone, which flies unmanned and has a longer and wider body than the TB2, recently completed an “unseen” flight from the far western reaches of Turkey to Azerbaijan, the company said in a news release. The journey lasted for five hours during which the drones flew more than 1,200 miles across three countries – which the firm called “a first in Turkish aviation history.”