The Bayraktar TB2 (from turk. “Flag Bearer”) is a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations. It is manufactured by the Turkish company Baykar Defence, primarily for the Turkish Armed Forces.^[3] 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.^[4] While the Turkish Armed Forces describes 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.^[5][6]

As of 26 November 2021, the TB2 drone had completed 400,000 flight-hours globally.^[7][2] The largest operator of TB2 drones is the Turkish military but an export model has been sold to the militaries of a number of other countries.^[8][9] Turkey has used the drone extensively in strikes on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and People’s Protection Units (YPG) targets in Iraq and Syria ^{[10][11][12][13]} Bayraktar drones were used by Azerbaijan in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war and by Ukrainian forces during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[14][15]

The aircraft previously relied on imported and regulated components and technologies such as Rotax 912 engines^[16] (manufactured in Austria) and optoelectronics (FLIR sensors imported from Wescam in Canada or Hensoldt from Germany). 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.^[16][17] In the same month, Canadian WESCAM (optics and sensors) exports were restricted by the Canadian Foreign Ministry.^[18] Turkish industry responded to foreign sales boycotts by announcing provision of domestically manufactured alternatives including TEI PD170 engine (manufactured by TEI),^[19][20]
fuel valves and the CATS FLIR system (manufactured by Aselsan).^[21] Integration tests with that system started on 6 November 2020.^[22] 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to Baykar by foreign companies did not pose a major problem, and that as of January 2021, all of those components have been replaced by locally manufactured alternatives^[23]

Development

The development of the Bayraktar TB2 had been spurred by a U.S. ban on exports of armed unmanned aircraft to Turkey due to concerns they would be used against PKK groups inside and outside Turkey.^[13]

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.^[24] The Bayraktar TB2 made its maiden flight in August 2014.^[25] 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.^{[26][27][28][29]}

According to 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.^[30] 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.”^[31]

On 19 August 2020 the UK Department for International Trade (DIT) 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. “There were 18 Standard Individual Export Licence (SIEL) applications submitted by EDO MBM Technology between 2014–2020 for exports of goods ‘related to Hornet Bomb Racks / Hornet Missile Launchers’ to Turkey where the proposed exports were for end-users in Turkey. Of these, 16 licences were granted, and 2 applications were stopped.”^[32]

Baykar signed a deal with Qatar in March 2018 to manufacture six drones for the Qatari forces. In January 2019, Baykar signed an agreement with Ukrspetsproject, part of Ukroboronprom, on the purchase of 12 TB2 and 3 ground control stations worth US$69 million for the Ukrainian army.^[33][34] Ukraine received the first batch of the UAVs in March 2019^[35] at a cost of one to two million dollars.^[36]
In October 2020 the use of the Canadian Wescam CMX-15D system in the drone was disclosed after Armenian officials claimed that remains of a CMX-15D system had been recovered from a downed TB2 drone during the nation’s conflict with Azerbaijan. That triggered the stopping of CMX-15D exports to Turkey while an investigation by Global Affairs Canada evaluates the use of Canadian technology in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.^[37] Turkey selected the Common Aperture Targeting System (CATS) from Aselsan as a replacement for Canadian CMX-15D.^{[38][39][40][41][42]}

In 2021, the TB2 completed 400,000 operational flight hours.^[7][2]

Characteristics

Design

The Bayraktar TB2 platform has a blended wing body design with an inverse V-tail structure. Thrust is generated through the internal combustion engine placed between the tail booms. The monocoque platform is modular with detachable main items such as wing, tail boom, and V-tails. All of the fuselage items are mostly made of carbon fiber composite parts whereas precision CNC machined aluminum parts are used at the junction sections of the platform. Fuel is stored within bladder tanks and fuel consumption is automatically balanced with solenoid valves. A variable pitch two-blade propeller allows for medium altitude efficient flying.^{[citation needed]}

The ground control station (GCS) 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 (NBC) filtering unit. 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.^[43]

Configuration

Each TB2 is configured with six aerial vehicle platforms,^{[clarification needed]} two ground control stations, three ground data terminals (GDT), two remote video terminals (RVT) and ground support equipment.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[44]

Digital flight control system

Bayraktar has a triple-redundant flight control system with autonomous taxi, takeoff, cruise, landing and parking capability without any external sensor aid. The flight control system is the central main component, which conducts sensor fusion algorithms running with the real-time sensor data. Mission-specific controls are handled through the mission control computer system. The aerial platform is guided through various redundant rotary and linear servo actuators, which are designed according to the dynamics of the aerial platform. All of the main airborne avionics equipment, software and hardware are under constant development so as to achieve utmost performance. The electronic power unit that powers 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 recorded to the airborne data recorder. The redundancy architecture of the avionics supports autonomous emergency landings on different airfields if necessary. Sensor fusion algorithms allow navigation and auto landing even with loss of global positioning signals.^[45]

Operational history

Turkey’s counterterrorism operations

The Turkish military’s use of the TB2 gained prominence in counterinsurgency operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and People’s Protection Units (YPG) militants positions across the border in Iraq and Syria.^{[10][11][12][13]}

On 30 June 2018, one Turkish Air Force Bayraktar TB2 crashed due to technical issues in Hatay province, Turkey.^[46][47]

On 15 August 2018, Turkish Land Forces successfully used Bayraktar TB2 in a joint cross-border operation of the Turkish Armed Forces and the National Intelligence Organization of Turkey to kill the senior (PKK) leader and board member of the Kurdistan Communities Union İsmail Özden in Sinjar District, northwestern Iraq.^[48]

Turkish military used combined UAV and artillery tactics in Syria against the PKK-linked YPG. According to Turkey the number of militant killed or wounded rose to 449 by use of armed TB2 and 680 were indirectly in operations assisted by air support from the UAV.^[10]

On 16 May 2021