The Ukrainian ministry of Defense plans to purchase up to 48 Bayraktar Tactical Block 2 (TB2) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), an Ukrainian news website reported,. The purchase of such a large number of UAVs raises questions of whether the vehicles would be jointly produced or produced locally in Ukraine.
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Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicle at IDEF defense exhibition in Turkey, May 2017 (Picture source: Army Recognition)
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry plans to purchase 6 to 12 Bayraktar TB2 systems, and 3 to 4 UAVs, Defense Express said in a report on Oct. 5. Vadym Nozdri, CEO of Ukrspetsexport which is responsible for the export and import of military equipment as it operates under Ukroboronprom, was cited by the report as saying, “Ukraine plans to get 48 drones, which the Ministry of Defense plans to put into service in the Armed Forces.”
Since this is a fairly large purchase, there may be possibilities for the localization of production in Ukraine, which would reduce the cost of each system by up to 35%. Tests curently conducted to check the already purchased drone’s resistance to more severe climatic conditions will be a determining factor in determining additional purchases.
In 2019, Ukraine’s then-President Petro Poroshenko announced the signed agreement on the purchase of 12 Bayraktar TB2 UAVs for the Ukrainian army. The agreement stated that six Bayraktar TB2s would be delivered within a year, and three ground control station systems and equipment would also be delivered in the following period. The drones completed acceptance tests in Ukraine in November 2019.
The Bayraktar UAV System has a cruising speed of 70 knots with an operational flight altitude of 24.000 feet, 24 hours of flight time and a communication range of 150 km and has a 12-m wing span, 650-kg maximum take-off weight and a 55-kg payload capacity. Prototype Development Phase started within 2007 based on competition model. Bayraktar Tactical UAS with its critical all subsystems including Flight Control, INS-GPS, Automatic Take Off-Landing systems developed in house demonstrated fully automatic taxi, take off, cruise, landing, parking phases in 2009 and was selected as the winner of the program. Final production stage officially started in 2012.
