Bayraktar Drones "Completely Eliminated" in Ukraine: Former Czech General

The famed Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones appear to be completely eliminated by Russian anti-drone defenses in Ukraine, according to the former Head of the Czech General Staff, Jiří Šedivý.

No one is talking about the Turkish Bayraktars; as if they were no longer on the battlefield at all, he said in an interview with a Czech defense magazine CZ Defence.

The last significant mention of the Bayraktar was of the drone being allegedly intercepted by a Russian Su-27 fighter over the Black Sea, days after the same type of jet brought down an American Reaper.

Turkey has supplied tens of TB2s to Ukraine till date, from even before the war started. In late February, there were unconfirmed reports of 18th loss of such a drone.

Šedivý said the “adored Bayraktars have already been de facto completely eliminated, as the Russians are using electronic systems to limit UAVs.”

Related news: How Turkey’s Bayraktar Drones Became an International Success

The former Czech official somewhat mirrors what Sergey Pashinsky, a Ukrainian politician who also heads the Association of Defense Enterprises, told Russian pranksters  – posing as former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul – during a call in October. Pashinsky told them Bayraktars have “no combat effectiveness due to their extreme vulnerability to air defense systems.” He further said “there is more PR and corruption in Bayraktar than combat use.”

Bayraktar has been hailed by the West and Ukrainians as a “game changer,” so much that citizens from a number of countries (Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Canada) collected funds to buy one for Ukraine. Even before the war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, the Bayraktar was considered lethal. In 2020, the UK Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, stressed the “game-changing” role of Turkish UAVs in modern warfare in the Middle East and North Africa.

Also read: Turkey's Bayraktar Drones-Success or Failure in Ukraine?