Ukraine used the Bayraktar TB2 in Donetsk. This is the first offensive mission
Home›Ukraine used Bayraktar TB2 in Donetsk. This is the first offensive missionOctober 27, 2021 15:49Bayraktar TB2 Photo source: © Baykar MakinaKarolina Modzelewska
The Ukrainian Armed Forces used the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone for the first time during an offensive mission against separatists in the Donetsk region. It was a response to artillery fire from the battery of D-30 howitzers.
In November 2018, the Ukrainian authorities concluded negotiations and signed a contract for the purchase of Bayraktar TB2 drones with the Turkish company Baykar Makina. The first training flights of the machines took place in May 2020, and Ukrainian media reported that on October 26, the first offensive mission was carried out using the Bayraktar TB2. During the operation, one of the separatists' firing positions was destroyed.
Bayraktar TB2 used in an offensive mission
According to the Ukrainian Inform Napalm website, the Bayraktar TB2 was used on the order of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lt. Gen. Valery Załużny, to suppress fire from the battery of D-30 howitzers of the Russian forces occupation forces that shelled Ukrainian positions. A video of the mission can be viewed below.
The whole event was described in detail on the official profile of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook. From the posted entry, you can learn that the separatists carried out an attack on the positions of the Joint Forces in the area of the village of Hranitne. Two soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were injured during the shelling, one of them died.
The Ukrainians demanded an immediate ceasefire by contacting the OSCE SMM (the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine), and a note on this was sent through diplomatic channels. When the request received no response, Bayraktar TB2 was used. As noted by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, "the unmanned aerial vehicle did not cross the line of contact and destroyed one cannon at the expense of the Russian occupation forces with a guided bomb. After that, the shelling of Ukrainian positions ceased."
The Bayraktar TB2 is a medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) tactical unmanned aerial vehicle capable of conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions and armed strikes. As we reported earlier, the drone resembles a small plane with its size. Its wingspan is 12 meters and its length is 6.5 meters. It is estimated that the plane can stay in the air for more than 24 hours.
The drone can carry 65 kg of weapons on four underwing suspension points. In his case, precision ammunition is used. Łukasz Michalik wrote about its variants here. The Inform Napalm service noted that in the case of the described mission, the Armed Forces of Ukraine probably used "the smallest ammunition for the Bayraktar TB2 UAV - MAM-C".
