Turkey’s First Bayraktar TB2 UAV was Retired After Ten Years Of Service
Bayraktar TB2, with tail number S5, produced by Turkey’s renowned drone manufacturer Baykar Teknoloji, has completed 10,000 hours of flight time, becoming the first unmanned aerial vehicle to complete its airframe life in this model.
S5 is the fifth of the first six Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles delivered to the Land Forces Command in 2014. Since then, it has undertaken important missions in Trench Operations, Euphrates Shield, Olive Branch, Peace Spring, Spring Shield, and the ongoing Operation Claw. Throughout its service, it completed over 750 sorties.
A farewell ceremony was held at the Özdemir Bayraktar National Technology Centre in Istanbul for the Bayraktar TB2 S5 UAV, which was retired after serving actively for nearly ten years. The ceremony was attended by General Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu, Commander of the Land Forces; General Metin Tokel, Commander of the 1st Army; Major General Zeynel Abidin Erginbaş, Commander of the Land Aviation Command; Brigadier General Sertaç Öztürk, Commander of the UAV Brigade; Baykar Chairman Selçuk Bayraktar; Baykar CEO Haluk Bayraktar and Baykar employees.
Following the ceremony, Bayraktar TB2 S5 was sent off to its new mission within Baykar for training and test flights as part of the airframe life cycle research. In place of the retired unmanned system, Baykar presented the Turkish Land Forces with a Bayraktar TB2 with the tail number T510, which had just left the production line.
Bayraktar TB2 is a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE), tactical unmanned aerial vehicle capable of conducting intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and armed attack missions. An onboard avionic suite with a triple redundant avionic system encompasses units enabling fully autonomous taxiing, take-off, landing, and cruise.
TB2 has proven its efficacy with over 900,000 operational flight hours. Since 2014, it has carried out missions successfully within the Turkish Armed Forces, Gendarmerie, and the Turkish National Police. Apart from Turkey, the vehicles have served in 34 countries, including six NATO countries and four EU countries, and have played important roles in conflict environments in Libya, Karabakh, Ukraine, Mali, and Burkina Faso.