Wall Street Journal: Turkish drones changed the rules of the game in Syria, Libya and Azerbaijan
The “Wall Street Journal” newspaper said on Thursday that Turkish low-cost armed drones participated in the wars in Syria, Libya and Azerbaijan as a “game-changer”.
On Thursday, the newspaper published a story entitled: “Turkish low-cost armed drones are redrawing conflict and geopolitical areas,” in which it indicated that small armies around the world are turning to cheap offensive means against their highly-equipped enemies.
“This new drone war tactic, which proved successful in regional conflicts last year, changed the strategic balance around Turkey and Russia”.
It noted that low-cost digital technology produced in Turkey has destroyed tanks, armored vehicles and other defense systems in the Russian-sponsored wars in Syria, Libya and Azerbaijan.
It added that low-cost armed drones are as effective as high-tech and expensive combat vehicles.
The Wall Street Journal indicated that the drones took over the task of expensive warplanes, and added: “Armed drones can fly for 24 hours, find loopholes in air defense systems, help warplanes hit targets, and launch missiles themselves”.
The Wall Street Journal noted that Israel and the United States were former pioneers in the armed drone sector, adding: “Technological developments and global competitors have produced inexpensive alternatives.
The Turkish TB2 Bayraktar march is the latest example of these marches”.
The Wall Street Journal newspaper stated that Qatar and Ukraine are among the customers of the “Baykar” company, which was founded in 1984, and that Poland, a member of NATO, last month expressed its desire to buy 24 unmanned aircraft “TP2” which has already happened, in addition to the interest of members of the NATO alliance.
Others in NATO and African countries acquired these Turkish marches.
The Wall Street Journal added that the success of the drones has helped Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan increase his regional influence without risking large numbers of soldiers or expensive equipment.
The Wall Street Journal pointed out that the “TB2” rallies came as a result of Turkey’s dissatisfaction with the current US and Israeli models and its desire to combat the PKK terrorist organization through the regimes it controls.
The Turkish “TB2” marches aroused interest on the international scene last year during Operation Spring Shield and hit the Syrian regime’s targets in Idlib Governorate, adding that “Last spring, the (TB2) marches turned the scales for the internationally backed government in Tripoli during The Libyan war.
The Wall Street Journal pointed out that Turkey sent weapons to the Libyan government in 2019, and increased its military support for it, thus removing Haftar’s forces from Tripoli in June 2020.
The Turkish offensive marches proved their worth in Azerbaijan’s victory over Armenia in the Nagorno Karabakh War, and that the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense published on social media scenes of Turkish marches bombing Armenian targets in the region.
And after about six weeks of clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Kremlin, which is close to the two governments, mediated to declare a truce between them last November, which resulted in Azerbaijan regaining most of the lands it lost about 20 years ago.
Baykar, a Turkish company that has been operating in the defense and aviation field in Turkey since 1984, is one of the few unmanned aircraft manufacturers in the world.
The “Bayraktar TB2” aircraft is currently used by the army, border guards, security and intelligence services in Turkey, in addition to its use in other countries such as Azerbaijan, Qatar, Ukraine, and recently Poland.
The drone can carry four missiles (MAM-L) and (MAM-C) and hit the target precisely and precisely through the built-in laser pointer.
Drones are produced with a local contribution of 93%, and are of great global interest in the aviation and defense sector.
