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The cheap, slow, and bulky drones taking down Russian armored tanks for
Ukraine
Christiaan Hetzner
Fri, March 4, 2022, 7:02 AM·6 min read

Courtesy of BAYKAR/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Outmanned, outgunned, and relying on sheer willpower to repel Russia’s
invading armies, Ukraine’s soldiers may have one big ace up their sleeve.

The Bayraktar TB2 drone, with a wingspan of 12 meters (472 inches) and
equipped to carry four laser-guided bombs, has disabled multiple launch
rocket systems as well as taken out columns of armored tanks and
personnel transporters from the air, seemingly with impunity.

To bolster their esprit de corps and demoralize the enemy, Volodymyr
Zelenskyy’s defending troops have been uploading videos to social media
taunting Russian troops with tales of the Bayraktar TB2’s lethal strikes
executed out of the blue.

A lemur born in Kyiv zoo was even given the name Bayraktar in tribute to
the drone, as revealed by the mayor of the capital and former world
heavyweight champion, Vitaly Klitschko, on Telegram.

Turkey’s very first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) may not be anywhere
near as state-of-the-art as General Atomics’ MQ-9 Reaper or SkyGuardian
drones. Yet its appeal lies in a brutally efficient cost-benefit ratio
on the battlefield.

At a price tag estimated to be as little as $1 million, these aircraft
are easily expendable compared with other high-tech armaments. And while
they have a range typically limited to 150 km (93 miles), they can
loiter in the air for over 24 hours, waiting for the right moment to strike.

“It gives Ukraine a new, qualitative edge over the enemy,” Lt. Col. Yuri
Ignat, spokesman for the country’s Air Force Command, told Al-Monitor in
an interview prior to the invasion. He claimed there were about 20 such
UAVs at its disposal, “but we will not stop there.”

https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1498158883994537989?s=20u0026t=DQ0dZpd5l3Nb5mMWpMwZDw

The drones are courtesy of Turkish defense contractor Baykar Makina,
which says 257 are currently in service worldwide. The company also
enjoys a direct link to the top echelon of Ankara’s leadership: One of
the late founder’s two sons who run the company is married to President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s younger daughter.

Story continues