Bayraktar armed UAV completes 100,000-hour flight

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s first and only indigenous armed unmanned aerial vehicle Bayraktar TB2 has completed 4,000 hours of flight.

It was the first time a domestically developed aerial vehicle in this segment flew a mission that long in the air.

The armed UAV also took part in Operation Claw which was launched on May 27 by the Turkish Armed Forces against the PKK in northern Iraq. Bayraktar TB2 previously flew some 5,300 hours during Operation Olive Branch in Syria’s Afrin town.

“For a UAV to record a 100,000-hour flight is a significant achievement. Only a few countries achieve this,” said Selçuk Bayraktar, the technical manager at Baykar, which produces Bayraktar TB2.

According to Bayraktar, Turkey is one of the three countries in the world which employs the drone technology in the most efficient and successful manner.

In the past Turkey wanted to buy unmanned aerial vehicles from other countries but its requests were denied, Selçuk Bayraktar said, adding that despite all obstacles they are working to improve TB2 and develop larger systems.

“I believe we will eventually see TB2 complete one-million-hour flight and our work will evolve towards space flight,” he said.

According to Bayraktar, 93 percent of components of the Bayraktar TB2 are domestically produced which proves the achievement the Turkish defense industry has made.

“The success of Bayraktar TB2 in military operations attracted strong attention from other countries. We have delivered Bayraktar UAVs to two countries in Europe and the Middle East this year. In the period ahead we will focus on exports to the countries in the Far East, Central Asia, Europe and the Middle East where demand for unmanned aerial vehicles increase,” he said.

Bayraktar TB2 was first sold to Ukraine and then Qatar.

Bayraktar TB2 is able to employ MAM and MAM-L ammunitions and UMTAS missiles.