Bayraktar TB2S Turkey 2 640Turkey's key export success

The Bayraktar TB2 (Tactical Block 2) is a Turkish-built Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Combat Aerial System (UCAS) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations.

It is manufactured by the Turkish company Baykar Savunma (Baykar Defence), initially for the Turkish Armed Forces. The aircraft is monitored and controlled by an aircrew in the Ground Control Station (GCS), including weapons employment, via a Türksat satellite connection.

The name Bayraktar stems from the founder of Baykar Makina, the late Özdemir Bayraktar that passed away on 18 October. Bayraktar is a common surname in Turkish that means ensign or standard-bearer.

Baykar Defence started to develop a new combat tactical aerial vehicle system on request of the SSB - Savunma Sanayii Başkanlığı (Presidency of Defense Industries), after the experiences of its first tactical Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Bayraktar Çaldıran in 2011. The Bayraktar TB2 conducted its maiden flight in August 2014. On 18 December 2015, a video was published for the missile test of Bayraktar TB2 as collaboration result with ROKETSAN.

The Bayraktar TB2S has become a key export success for Turkey and its Defence Industry. In September 2021, Baykar's Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Selçuk Bayraktar stated that new export agreements were signed with a large number of countries for the export of Bayraktar TB2. Baykar Defence currently generates more than 83 percent of its revenues from exports.

Scramble Magazine has knowledge of the following users within the Turkish Armed Forces and known export customers. Obviously, Turkey is the largest consumer of the product with five internal operators of the UCAS.

Turkey
Turkish Army: around 100 delivered from August 2016
Turkish Navy: 10 delivered from December 2018
Turkish Police: 16 delivered from 2016
Turkish Gendarmerie: around 40 delivered from March 2017
Turkish National Intelligence Organisation: unknown number delivered by 2020

Known export customers for the Bayraktar TB2 (ISR) and Bayraktar TB2S (Silahlı or Armed) by 23 December 2021:
Libya: around 36 ordered and delivered from November 2017
Qatar: 6 ordered in March 2018, delivered in 2019
Ukraine: 17 ordered from January 2019, delivered in 2020
Azerbaijan: around 12 ordered June in 2020, delivered in 2020
Morocco: 13 ordered in April 2021, delivered from September 2021, deliveries ongoing
Ethiopia: around 4 ordered in August 2021, delivered in November 2021
Poland: 24 ordered in May 2021, deliveries pending for 2022
Turkmenistan: 6 ordered and delivered in 2021
Iraq: 8 ordered (plus 4 optional) in November 2021, deliveries pending for 2022
Kyrgyzstan: 3 ordered in October 2021, deliveries pending for 2022
Niger: 6 ordered in November 2021, deliveries pending for 2022

In some media outlets, Somalia is also quoted as an export customer but in fact the Somalia-based Bayraktar TB2S’ are forward deployed Turkish Army or Gendarmerie examples that operate under the TURKSOM agreement since November 2021.


If you can add details on countries, number of aircraft and where possible allocated serials we would like to hear this at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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