Are the once-vaunted Bayraktar drones losing their shine in Ukraine?

BRNO, Czech Republic — The Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones, which reportedly assisted Ukraine in military successes earlier in the war, are now of limited utility amid Russian forces bolstering their air defenses, according to a Ukrainian military official.

The assessment by Col. Volodymyr Valiukh, a commander in Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, comes as unmanned aerial vehicles of all sizes and flavors continue to play a key role in Ukraine’s defense calculus. But new tactical constraints have come into play, he said.

In the early weeks of the Russian invasion, the drone often singled out in news headlines was the TB2, produced by Turkish manufacturer Baykar. Among the hits logged by Ukrainian TB2s are five tanks, six towed artillery pieces, six naval ships, two logistics trains, two multiple rocket launchers, two anti-aircraft guns and over a dozen surface-to-air missiles, according to the Dutch open-source intelligence website Oryx.

However, over the course of the last year, several reports noted that the drones seemed to have disappeared from available footage of battlefield action and that their use had become more limited in the face of more sophisticated Russian air defenses.

“For the TB2, I don’t want to use the word useless, but it is hard to find situations where to use them,” Valiukh said at the GSOF Symposium here on Oct. 26.

In an interview with Defense News, the Ukrainian commander clarified there is evidently still some use for them, but that the deployment frequency and roles for those drone types had changed.

“We are extremely grateful for the TB2s, but at the beginning of the war they were deployed more and striked more,” Valiukh said. Now that Russian air and electronic defenses have grown in quality, he added, the last TB2 flight he observed lasted a mere 30 minutes.

Per the manufacturer, Baykar, the drones can stay airborne for 27 hours.

The company told Defense News that reports about the limited utility of its flagship product should be taken with a grain of salt.

“Not seeing any videos does not necessarily mean that the drones are not being used,” CEO Haluk Bayraktar told Defense News. “This is a challenging environment to operate in,” with hundreds of medium- to long-range Russian air defenses deployed within range, he added.

“Currently, the Bayraktar TB2s are mainly used to conduct daily flights to track the targets, which can be as valuable as attacking,” Bayraktar said.

In that reconnaissance role, the usage rate in Ukraine is still high, according to company logs seen by Defense News.

“TB2s don’t attack unless they figure out open windows, no need to be an easy target for Russian air defense systems,” Bayraktar said. “This is the same for any other flying platform such as fighter jets, helicopters et cetera unless it is an affordable, low-cost mini drone,” he added.

Since June, Ukrainian TB2s have received upgrades that include advanced camera gear, the Mx-20, provided directly to the embattled country by Canadian manufacturer L3Harris Wescam. The new imaging equipment enables higher-altitude and longer-range surveillance missions, per the vendor.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

捷克共和国布尔诺——据一位乌克兰军方官员称，土耳其制造的Bayraktar TB2无人机曾在战争初期帮助乌克兰取得军事胜利，但随着俄罗斯军队加强防空力量，这些无人机现在的作用有限。

乌克兰国家情报总局指挥官弗拉基米尔·瓦柳赫上校的评估指出，各种尺寸和型号的无人机在乌克兰的国防战略中继续发挥着关键作用。但他同时表示，新的战术限制已经出现。

在俄罗斯入侵乌克兰的最初几周，新闻头条经常提到的无人机是土耳其制造商Baykar生产的TB2无人机。据荷兰开源情报网站Oryx报道，乌克兰TB2无人机击毁的目标包括5辆坦克、6门牵引式火炮、6艘海军舰艇、2列后勤列车、2座多管火箭炮、2门高射炮和12枚地对空导弹。

然而，在过去一年中，一些报道指出，无人机似乎已经从战场行动的可用视频中消失，而且由于俄罗斯防空系统更加先进，它们的使用也变得更加有限。

“对于 TB2，我不想用‘无用’这个词，但很难找到使用它们的情况，”Valiukh 在 10 月 26 日于此地举行的 GSOF 研讨会上说道。

乌克兰指挥官在接受《防务新闻》采访时澄清说，这些无人机显然仍然有一些用途，但这些无人机的部署频率和角色已经发生了变化。

瓦柳赫说：“我们非常感谢TB2防空导弹系统，但在战争初期，它们的部署和打击次数都更多。” 他补充说，现在俄罗斯的防空和电子防御系统质量有所提高，他观察到的最后一次TB2飞行仅持续了30分钟。

据制造商 Baykar 称，这些无人机可以连续飞行 27 小时。

该公司告诉《防务新闻》，有关其旗舰产品用途有限的报道应该谨慎对待。

“没有看到任何视频并不一定意味着无人机没有被使用，”首席执行官哈鲁克·巴伊拉克塔尔告诉《防务新闻》。“这是一个充满挑战的作战环境，”他补充道，因为数百套俄罗斯中远程防空系统部署在有效射程内。

“目前，Bayraktar TB2 主要用于执行日常飞行以跟踪目标，其价值不亚于发动攻击，”Bayraktar 表示。

据《防务新闻》看到的公司日志显示，在乌克兰，这种侦察用途的使用率仍然很高。

“TB2无人机只有在找到突破口时才会发动攻击，它们不想成为俄罗斯防空系统的活靶子，”拜拉克塔尔说。“其他任何飞行平台，比如战斗机、直升机等等，也都是如此，除非是价格低廉的小型无人机，”他补充道。

自6月以来，乌克兰的TB2无人机已完成升级，其中包括由加拿大制造商L3Harris Wescam直接提供给这个饱受战火蹂躏的国家的先进摄像设备MX-20。据供应商称，新的成像设备能够执行更高空和更远距离的监视任务。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。