Turkish drone triumph in the non‑Western world – background to the world-famous Bayraktar TB2 drones

Turkey has made exponential progress in producing drones in the last two decades, and due to high technological standards and competitive pricing, there are foreign customers for these Turkish products. The most famous is the Bayraktar TB2 drone of company Baykar, which is combat-proven in the last decade. The experience increased the sales of the product and strengthened trust in it. The Bayraktar TB2 drone became the most famous and worldwide known symbol of the Turkish military industry and the symbol of impressive Turkish military development. What is significant that the Bayraktar drones are able to fastly upgrade armies especially in non‑Western states which are unable to invest in expensive Western technologies but in need for better air force. Today, Bayraktar TB2 drone is over its 10th anniversary, and during its first decade, it was sold to several countries all over the world, but is mostly not to Western countries. For some of these non‑Western countries, Bayraktar TB2 drones were not only a military product useful for diversifying the army, but a crucial element in an armed conflict, or what is more, even a game changer in some cases. Bayraktar TB2 has several advantages in the drone industry which explain the triumphant career of this product. But how does it look like in mechanics, in design? How does it work? In which countries was it sold? In what conflicts could it already operate? Why is it so successful? We look through these details in this study.