Ukraine has seen great success using Turkish-manufactured Bayraktar TB2 drones throughout the Russian invasion, and a video shared on Twitter over the weekend shows the damage that these drones can do.
The video, shared by the popular war-tracking Twitter account Ukraine Weapons Tracker, shows a bird’s-eye view of two Russian military vehicles in Kherson Oblast – see below. A drone strike occurs only seconds into the clip, showing a Russian BMD-2 airborne infantry fighting vehicle being totally destroyed by a drone strike. As the smoke and debris clear, the two vehicles can be seen obliterated.
“Constantly on the prowl, the Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2 UCAV continues to destroy targets in the South – a Russian BMD-2 airborne infantry fighting vehicle was destroyed during the ongoing offensive in #Kherson Oblast by a high-precision munition,” the account notes.
The Bayraktar TB2 drone differs from many of the UAVs used in Ukraine. Roughly the size of a small plane, the winged drone is equipped with a series of high-resolution cameras. It can also be fitted with laser-guided ammunition, helping Ukrainian ground forces with tactical intelligence and surveillance, reconnaissance, and target acquisition. The drones can also be used to launch rocket strikes.
The TB2 drone has a wingspan of 12m and is 6.5m long. It can fly for 24 hours without stopping and can also fly at an altitude of 30,000 feet.
Bayraktar TB2 Drones Destroy $27 Million In Russian Hardware
Reports last week also revealed how just two Bayraktar drones operated by the Ukrainian military destroyed almost $27 million worth of Russian hardware in a matter of days.
#Ukraine: Constantly on the prowl, the Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2 UCAV continues to destroy targets in the South – a Russian BMD-2 airborne infantry fighting vehicle was destroyed during the ongoing offensive in #Kherson Oblast by a high-precision munition. pic.twitter.com/A2ja8Crh8Q
— ?? Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) September 4, 2022
The news came from Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, who described a series of huge victories over Russian forces in Ukraine using the winged drones.
“Within three days, from 31 August to 2 September, a pair of Bayraktar TV-2 UAVs destroyed enemy equipment worth about 26.5 million dollars. These are 8 T-72 tanks (the estimated cost of one being $3 million), one Acacia self-propelled gun ($1.6 million), infantry fighting vehicles ($0.6 million) and howitzers ($0.3 million),” Zaluzhnyi claimed on Facebook.
He also revealed how drones also damaged five Russian T-72 tanks and one infantry fighting vehicle, which had a total combined value of $1.85 million.
The Ukrainian official described the Turkish TB2 drones as “powerful” weapons when in the “skillful” hands of the Ukrainian military and said that one of the drones used to conduct the attacks was gifted to Ukraine by Lithuania.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
