Why Turkish drones didn't help the Ukrainian army
A significant number of Bayraktar TB2 drones that were in the arsenal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were shot down by the Russian army, or failed due to improper operation. "Newspaper.Ru" was looking into why Turkish drones proved ineffective during the Russian special operation in Ukraine.
On March 14, the official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Igor Konashenkov said that over the past day during the operation in Ukraine, the Russian military shot down four Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, including one Bayraktar TV-2.
According to estimates from various sources, the entire AFU lost from 16 to 21 Bayraktar TB2 during the military operation. At the same time, according to official data of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, as of September 2021, Kiev had 24 such devices.
In 2020, Ukraine and Turkey agreed to release Turkish drones on the territory of Ukraine. It was about the transfer of UAV production technology to Ukrainians, whose electronic filling is supplied from the USA and Canada. The Kiev authorities announced the start of production in December last year, but there was no more detailed information.
"It is obvious that Bayraktar TB2 is a medium-intensity warfare tool. When it comes to a collision with a high-tech army that has an extensive air defense system, a drone cannot be effective," he told the newspaper.Ru" military expert Dmitry Litovkin.
He noted that Bayraktar TB2 drones were a danger exclusively for the LPR and the DPR at the time before the start of the special operation, because they "did not have air defense systems at all," respectively, any drone was dangerous for the republics - it could strike positions "just in free mode."
- Litovkin told.
At the same time, the expert noted that in the case of the confrontation with the Russian army, Turkish drones were initially useless, since the units of the Russian Armed Forces are building a multi-layered air defense system. "In these conditions, the drone cannot work productively. Russia is capable of creating a very dense cloud of countering such threats," Litovkin said.
According to the editor of the Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine, military expert Alexei Leonkov, Bayraktar TB2 is a target that is easily detected and successfully shot down by Russian air defense systems. "This was discussed initially - both in the Syrian conflict and in Libya. Bayraktar TB2 works effectively against guerrillas, against militants, against any irregular formations. Or in the case when the air defense systems were destroyed - as in Nagorno-Karabakh. It is useless against a regular real army," Leonkov said.
He noted that Bayraktar TB2 is a large object, like a real plane, "it glows on radars like a Christmas tree."
"These drones, moreover, have a feature - there is a chassis in front of his viewing camera, and in order for the camera to work, these chassis are retracted, but the rear landing gear - underwing - stick out, and any anti-aircraft gunner will say that this increases the dispersion surface. That is, because of these chassis, it is visible very well, all these are reflective surfaces that the radar easily notices," Leonkov said.
According to him, the speed of the Bayraktar TB2 is small - 240-300 km per hour, so "it will not escape from any rocket."
- the expert believes.
According to Leonkov, Kiev believed the Turkish advertising, because "all the world's media shouted about super-Bayraktars. But there was no miracle in Ukraine."
"No one noticed, for example, the open analytical conclusions of the US military for Congress, which criticized these drones. The American military talked about it - not the Russian ones. For example, footage was shown of Bayraktar TB2 shooting down many targets. But for this set of goals, the shooting of the destruction of one was issued - from different angles. Therefore, Bayraktar TB2 was effective only in the information field, in real combat operations, its effect, to put it mildly, was controversial," the expert concluded.
Irina Alshayeva
