Bayraktar TB2 SİHA (armed unmanned aerial vehicle), which broke new ground in Turkish aviation history, left another important milestone behind by successfully completing 1 million flight hours. Thus, Bayraktar TB2 SİHA became the first national aircraft to exceed 1 million hours in the sky in the 10-year period since it entered the inventory in 2014.
Leaving its US, Israeli and Chinese competitors behind as the world’s largest UAV company, Baykar has moved Turkey to a position with 65 percent of the world UAV market, thanks to its export success. Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs, which played an important role in this success, covered approximately 150 million kilometers in the sky during 1 million hours of flight. During this long journey in the sky, national UCAVs reached a distance of 40 thousand 75 kilometers, equivalent to circumnavigating the world 3 thousand 742 times.
BROUGHT TURKEY TO LEADERSHIP
With the success of Bayraktar TB2 in conflict zones such as Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine, Türkiye has become a leader in the global UAV market. As of 2021, Türkiye became the world’s largest supplier of UAV exports.
Bayraktar TB2 has become the choice of many countries around the world with its high technology, affordable cost, fast delivery process and field-proven effectiveness. Turkey’s innovative production approach has strengthened its position as a leading actor in the military field as well as in strategic diplomacy and international security balances.
EXPORT AGREEMENTS WERE SIGNED WITH 34 COUNTRIES
Baykar, which has carried out all its projects with its own resources since the beginning, has obtained 83 percent of all its income from exports since the beginning of the UAV R&D process in 2003. Baykar, which exported 1.8 billion dollars in 2023, was among the top 10 companies with the most exports in all sectors.
Reaching the Champions of Export Award, Baykar became the export leader of the defense and aviation industry in 2021, 2022 and 2023, according to the data of the Presidency of Defense Industries and the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TİM). Obtaining more than 90 percent of its revenues from exports in recent years, Baykar alone made 1/3 of the exports in the defense and aerospace sector in 2023. 97.5 percent of Baykar’s currently signed contracts are from exports. Export agreements have been signed with 35 countries, 34 countries for the Bayraktar TB2 SİHA, and 10 countries for the Bayraktar AKINCI TİHA so far.
COMES OUT OF THE COMPETITION BY WINNING
Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs enter the inventories of countries at the end of a competitive process. The winner of such a process carried out by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense in 2023 was the Bayraktar TB2 SİHA. Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs won the demo activities, leaving their US, European and Chinese competitors behind. Thus, Baykar signed an important export contract with the Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense.
The geographies where national UCAVs operate continue to increase. With the export to Croatia as a result of the agreement signed in Zagreb on November 19, 2024, Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs have entered the inventory of 6 NATO member countries and 4 EU member countries as of November 2024.
“BEST IN ITS CLASS”
Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs, all critical parts, design and software of which were developed nationally and indigenously by Baykar, are produced at the Özdemir Bayraktar National Technology Center with a record level of 93 percent domestic industry participation.
Considering its technical features and the operations it participated in, Bayraktar TB2, which is considered the “best in the world in its class”, entered the inventory of the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) in 2014. The UAV, which was armed in 2015, is used operationally by the Turkish Armed Forces, Gendarmerie General Command, General Directorate of Security and MİT. Bayraktar TB2 SİHA plays an active role in the fight against terrorism at home and across the border.
On May 31, 2024, Bayraktar TB2 once again made its name in world aviation history with its autonomous barrel tone maneuver, which followed a spiral orbit and turned a full circle around its own axis. Bayraktar TB2 SİHA successfully completed the autonomous barrel roll, one of the most important escape maneuvers of warplanes, 3 times. Bayraktar TB2, the first and only UAV in the world that can successfully perform this maneuver, showed how advanced its autonomy and aerodynamic capabilities are.
RECORD-BREAKING SIHA
National UCAVs continue to operate in all adverse weather conditions such as desert heat, freezing cold, snow and storms encountered in many different regions of the world, from Europe to Africa.
The national UAV, which broke the Turkish altitude record with an altitude of 27 thousand 30 feet and the longest flight time in the air in the tactical class of 27 hours and 3 minutes in the history of Turkish aviation, went down in Turkish aviation history with a record that is difficult to reach, with more than 1 million hours of flight. National UCAV also holds the title of the aircraft that has served Turkey successfully for the longest time.
NEXT TO MEHMETÇIK
National SİHA Bayraktar TB2 took an active role in the Trench, Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations carried out by the Turkish Armed Forces within and beyond the border. Defense experts stated that one of the most important factors in ending the operations much sooner than expected and experiencing fewer losses was national UCAVs.
National UCAVs made more than 90 percent of all flights within the scope of Operation Olive Branch, especially in Afrin, and left their mark on the operation with 5,300 flight hours.
Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs, which took part in many operations against the terrorist organization such as Claw and Kıran, continue to play an important role in operations against the so-called leaders of the separatist terrorist organization. In addition to these duties, National UCAVs also take part in the protection of the “Blue Homeland”. In this context, it also escorted drilling ships carrying out exploration activities in the Eastern Mediterranean from the air for safety. Bayraktar TB2 SİHA, which took off from Dalaman Naval Air Base Command and landed at Geçitkale Airport on December 16, 2019, to be deployed in TRNC for the same scope of missions, made a historic flight.
HE FLYED TO HELP DURING THE EARTHQUAKE
Bayraktar TB2s also took part in earthquakes and contributed to search and rescue activities. After the 6.8 magnitude earthquake centered in Elazığ Sivrice, which occurred on January 24, 2020, it arrived in the region in a very short time and transferred snapshots and information to the crisis command centers of Ankara and the earthquake-affected provinces from the 25th minute.
It flew for 2,417 hours and 6 minutes during the February 6, 2023 earthquakes, which were described as the Disaster of the Century. In this context, a total of 42 Bayraktar TB2s, 8 of which were integrated with Baykar Rapid Mapping Pod, were deployed. In addition to supporting search and rescue efforts from the sky, Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs also served to control the heavy vehicle traffic after the earthquake and to deliver aid without any disruption.
Bayraktar TB2s followed the ongoing irregular migration movements in the Aegean and Mediterranean from the sky, saving the lives of many irregular migrants and making a significant contribution to documenting human rights violations such as pushbacks that remain on the world’s agenda.
Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs also serve effectively in search and rescue activities in nature. He also played a role in finding Danish national Yusuf Sepehizade, who went for a walk in Bursa Uludağ on December 31, 2021 and got lost when the weather conditions worsened. The location of the Danish tourist, who could not be found by the teams in the region due to the worsening weather conditions, was detected by the Bayraktar TB2 SİHA belonging to the Gendarmerie General Command, which took off from Aydın. The missing tourist was rescued by the teams in the region after his location was detected from the sky.
DETECTED 4 THOUSAND 91 FOREST FIRES
Bayraktar TB2 UAVs play an important role in fighting forest fires, as well as security and humanitarian aid missions. In cooperation with the General Directorate of Forestry (OGM), Bayraktar TB2 UAVs have been taking an active role in the early detection of forest fires and efficient management of extinguishing efforts since 2020. A total of 4 thousand 91 forest fires have been detected by Bayraktar TB2 since 2020. In this way, high-tech UAVs began to be used to fight forest fires for the first time in Europe.
The pioneering and innovative solution that Turkey has followed in combating forest fires continues to grow from 2020 to the present. Bayraktar TB2 UAVs, deployed in centers determined by GDF, work under the coordination of Baykar’s expert team. Operating with the advanced software and technological infrastructure installed by Baykar at OGM’s fire management center in Ankara, Bayraktar TB2s can scan an area of 400 square kilometers at a time with a thermal camera and detect fires up to 185 kilometers away at the initial stage. Bayraktar TB2 UAVs played an active role in extinguishing forest fires by detecting 345 fires in 2020, 267 in 2021, 1109 in 2022, 1445 in 2023 and 924 in 2024. As a result, the first response time to forest fires in our country decreased from 45 minutes to 11 minutes.
A FIRST IN WORLD COMBAT HISTORY
Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs, which contributed to the success of the Peace Spring Operation by greatly increasing the reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities of the Turkish Armed Forces, also successfully destroyed many targets throughout the operation. In Operation Spring Shield, it flew in squadrons for the first time and neutralized many armored vehicles, howitzers, multi-barreled rocket launchers (MLRS) and air defense systems.
Bayraktar TB2 UCAV carried out 80 percent of all sorties made by the aircraft participating in the Spring Shield Operation, in which UCAVs were used as the primary element on the battlefield for the first time in the world. Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs, which successfully operated despite all kinds of electronic warfare within the scope of the operation in the Idlib region of Syria, flew for more than 2 thousand hours. The fact that Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs served effectively in the operation by flying in squadrons for the first time in the history of world combat caused great repercussions in the world press.
THERE WAS A FORCE MULTIPLIER IN KARABAKH
Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs also played an important role in ending Azerbaijan’s occupation of Karabakh, which had been going on for nearly 30 years. Azerbaijan launched a military operation against Nagorno-Karabakh, occupied by Armenia, on September 27, 2020. 44 days after the start of the operation, the Azerbaijani Army ended the occupation of Armenia and took control of Nagorno-Karabakh. During the operation against Armenia, the Azerbaijani Army used Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs, developed nationally and indigenously by Baykar, on the entire front line. According to studies confirmed by defense analysts, many air defense systems, radar systems, tanks, armored vehicles, trucks, ammunition depots, positions and units belonging to the Armenian Army were destroyed by Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs. This success of the Azerbaijani Army, which envied the world, led to comments by the world media and defense experts that Turkish UAVs had changed the history of warfare and reached a playmaking power.
CHILDREN WERE NAMED “BAYRAKTAR” IN UKRAINE
With its outstanding success in the Ukraine-Russia war, which started in February 2022, Bayraktar TB2 UCAV changed the balance in the war and became a hero in the eyes of the Ukrainian people. “Bayraktar Radio” started broadcasting in Kiev in the name of SİHA, about whom anthems were composed and toys were made. Newborn boys were even given the name “Bayraktar”. Bayraktar TB2 became the “symbol of hope” in Ukraine, in addition to its impact in combat. This success in Ukraine showed the whole world the effectiveness of Bayraktar TB2 and that it is the best in its class.
Public aid campaigns were organized in Lithuania, Ukraine, Poland, Latvia, Norway, Spain and Canada to purchase Bayraktar TB2s and donate them to the Ukrainian army. Baykar, who gave Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs as a gift, also donated the collected aid to meet the humanitarian needs of the Ukrainian people.
