By Nailia Bagirova

BAKU (Reuters). Apparently, the destruction by Ukraine of Russian artillery and armoured vehicles equipped with Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones have made “the entire world” a client. According to its designer.

Selcuk Bayraktar (who runs Baykar Istanbul with his brother Haluk) said that the drones have shown the revolution in technology and modern warfare.

“Bayraktar TB2 is doing what it was supposed to do – taking out some of the most advanced anti-aircraft systems and advanced artillery systems and armoured vehicles,” he told Reuters in English beside the new Akinci drone at an exhibition in Baku. The whole of the world is a client.

The TB2, which can fly to 25,000ft and has a wingspan of 12 metres, was able to weaken Russia’s vast military power.

The drone is so well-known that it was the subject of an expletive-strewn song from Ukraine mocking Russian troops.

The Bayraktar drone was not only funny, but also attracted the attention of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since the start of the conflict on February 24, the defense ministry had mentioned the Bayraktar drone at least 45 times.

Bayraktar Bayraktar was the father of Bayraktar. He founded Baykar in the 1980s. Turkey wanted to increase its defence sector in 2005.

The TB2 is a key factor in conflict in Syria, Iraq and Libya as well Ukraine.

Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Turkish Association for International Development (TB2) and newer Akinci says there is a huge international market demand.

Bayraktar Bayraktar who is married Erdogan’s daughter said Baykar can create 200 TB2 Drones each year.

COMBAT AIRCRAFT & TAXIS

He expressed pride that the drones had also been used in Nagorno Karabakh, an Armenian enclave belonging to Turkey’s ally Azerbaijan. In this area, Baku’s forces captured large areas of land in 2020.

He stated that it was an illegal invasion and that TB2 helps the Ukrainian honorable people defend their country.

Since our childhood, the illegal occupation of Karabakh has been a painful memory. As engineers, we are proud to have assisted our brothers and sister here in regaining their land.

Russia announced two weeks ago a new type of laser weapon, including a mobile device that Moscow claimed could disable orbiting satellites or destroy drones.

Bayraktar, who was born and raised in Istanbul, claimed that these weapons weren’t effective against TB2.

He said that their ranges were limited and that they would not be effective if the range of your munition or sensory range was greater.

Baykar is currently working on a TB3, with foldable wings, that can land or take off on short-run aircraft carriers.

Bayraktar declared that inshallah, Kizilelma’s first flight will take place next year. TB3 could be either at the end of the year or starting next year.

“If you look at the longer time horizon, we are working on taxi drones – for that we need to develop more higher-level autonomy technology – which is AI basically – but it will revolutionise how people will be transported in cities.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in the deaths of thousands and displacement of millions of people. There are also fears that there will be a direct confrontation between Russia, America, and Russia.

Putin claimed that Washington had used Ukraine as a weapon to undermine Russia’s NATO expansion, and that Moscow was required to help protect Russian-speaking people from being persecuted.

These are rejected by Ukraine and Western Allies as pretexts for invading sovereign countries.