Statistics ? In Ukraine, Russia claims to have shot down 90 TB2s. Even if you believe that Ukraine only bought 50, where are they lately ? Obviously the majority have been destroyed. Even in Libya Turkey lost 20x TB2s to the Pantsir. That was just the Pantsirs being operated by untrained Libyan rebels.
Of course against a potent and multi layered air defense network, like what the Russians posses, slow moving UAVs stand no chance. They can't maneuver or fly fast enough like a nimble fighter jet or dispense flares or use counter measures. Honestly for Ukraine, their best bet would have been using suicide drones / loitering munitions.
Also why don't you compare TB2 against Iran's best drones ? Tajikistan is not even buying the Mohajer btw, they're buying the Ababil, which is an even cheaper variant. For the nature of warfare that Tajikistan will likely be involved with, probably short range border skirmishes against Taliban for example, it's more than sufficient.
The Houthis operate the Ababil but they have their own variant they call Qasef-2k. They have used Iranian drones in the past to wipe out half of Saudi Arabia's fuel supply's in one fatal blow. There were half a dozen Patriot batteries in the area, many PAC-3 variants, they failed to stop the cheap yet effective Iranian drones.
In the end, with these drones it's a numbers game, it's a matter of logistics and reaching a critical mass, especially when you're trying to saturate the airspace, there is no point to use expensive UAVs if you can't establish air dominance first.
Your friend above argues that the sole reason for the TB-2's export success is NATO involvement. It's his own paradox, not mine, that he doesn't create a similar fiction about Tajikistan and Yemeni Houthis with this logic. (That's how low the level of the discussion is)
As of Baykar's production: Number of TB-2 production is around 300, the number of systems sent to Ukraine is 24, and a total of 25 with the system to be gifted by Lithuania. You can check with open sources how many and which country has in its inventory. You have the chance to compare the production numbers with the tail numbers or fuselages on production, as updated photos are published about the Baykar Tech production line almost every week.
It is not even funny that Russia claims to have shot down 90 TB-2s, it is nothing more than an example of an obsession and counter-propaganda against a Tactical UAV that rape on Russian air defense systems on 3 different continents. You are in psychology in the message number 2 I wrote above.
I dont know if any of you remember but, Wagner mercenaries in favor of the putschists in Libya tried to make propaganda by loading the TB-2 wreckage into a pickup truck and photographing it in different places.
Now same thing again.
If the Russians had been as diligent on the battlefield as they were in propaganda works as like, their current situation would have been much better than they are now.
After the photograph of a TB-2 that crashed in Libya, being transported to different points with a pickup, was proven by open intelligence channels, a similar propaganda activity in Ukraine was revealed with evidence last month. The Ukraine-Russia war title contains proofs on this subject. In short, put aside even the claims that the Russian authorities could never prove, they make false claims from time to time, even with evidenced crashed planes.
Tb-2, as any other tactical armed systems, eliminates the necessity of conducting piloted CAS to risky areas. It does this job very well and now has thousands of proven successful engagements. The material value of the systems it destroys is moving towards 10 billion dollars. The TB-2 is a simple tactical system. It should work with a correct doctrine with many other elements within the concept of the operation. Of course, this vehicle can fall, be hit. The important thing here is that even in just 1 successful sortie, this system causes the enemy lose more than it costs and also personel loss.
It has been shared many times in this forum that the image you shared above is not valid. The subsystems written in the poster that emerged during the psyop activities in this Karabakh war are not included in TB-2. In fact, you were given the answer directly to this.
No. Haluk Bayraktar (GM of the company) stated that the products on the shelf continue to be used, but the military components that may be subject to the embargo have become localized. In 2021, Baykar showed in a detailed infographic to what extent the TB-2 system was localized. Actually, this was also a response to the counter-campaign on social media, but since the main critical issue, the drone's main critical avionics, and the running algorithms in embedded systems have already been unique since the first deliveries of the system, there was no difficulty that would prevent the production of the system. If you can't supply a product, you get an alternative, if you can't get it too, then you may increase the cost of the product and you have to localize it. For example, when there was a problem with the wescam, the optimization studies of Aselsan CATS, which was not preferred because it was heavy, were accelerated and eventually Aselsan CATS will take place in new productions. Those who shared the production planning and subsystem schematics between 2014-2019 know how this system evolving very well, but they only talk about a part of the process, not the whole, since their purpose is nothing more than spamming the thread.
As of now, new built TB-2 locality rate reached 93%. It was 15% in 2014, it was 65% at the beginning of 2019. In 2022, the engine will also be domestic.
Regarding the graphic shared above:
The tire is Petlas, not Beringer.
IMU is not Grumman LN200, it is Baykar.
Data link now, not ViaSat, Baykar.
Oil, not AeroShell, Turkish Petroleum.
I'm sure you're far from concepts like off-the-shelf product use, dual-use products in military systems. The industry giant of the world is China. Even their UAVs that crashed in Yemen had a rotax engine. It is not a necessity for China to use Rotax on these planes, it was about the use of the product on the shelf. But, by your logic, the Iranian defense industry is incapable of suplly even a GPS, it uses $35 Garmin GPS in the current attack helicopters used by its army and even in MALE UAVs. Which would be a completely ridiculous idea. Bu I accept that they create a nice contrast with the plastic pochettes to cover the IIR of the anti-tank munitions carried by these drones or helicopters, which I noticed in the same photos.
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This thread is dedicated to IRAN UAV studies and let check out what we talked about. In the other 3 posts I wrote above, I don't have the slightest attack or grudge against these ongoing developments in Iran. On the contrary, I see these developments positively for our region and always convey my best wishes.
At first I had the idea that what you did was a lack of knowledge or misinformation. Now I understand that you have a different motivation on almost every issue related to Turkiye or us. In the UAV title, the situation has turned into a tragicomedy, enough to speak about wheat export of Russia. The irony of course is that you discredit the intruments you hold for this in other titles when the subject is Iran... From now on, for me, every news that the western media makes about Iran is more credible and true than the Iranian media. Because you accept it too.
