Selçuk Bayraktar, the architect of Turkey’s first indigenously developed TB2 Bayraktar drone, flew over Baku during Teknofest Azerbaijan — the first foreign edition of Turkish aviation, space, and technology festival — in a Mikoyan MiG-29 belonging to Azerbaijani Air Force.
Bayraktar himself commanded the MiG-29 during maneuvers and part of the formation flight reported the Daily Sabah. Akıncı is also scheduled to perform a flight at the Teknofest.
Selçuk Bayraktar – A Technological Savant Of Turkey
Selçuk Bayraktar is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. In 2005, he attempted to convince an assembled group of observers at a remote airstrip surrounded by cornfields that Turkey could become a great drone power.
“Turkey can be number one in the world in five years,” he had asserted.
By 2011, a design team assembled by Bayraktar produced the Bayraktar Caliran 1, or TB1 which got selected over other design competitors for procurement by the Turkish military and served as a prototype for the operational production model, Bayraktyar 2, or TB2, that first took to skies in August 2014.
Ever since, the TB2s have become a central pillar of Turkish efforts to reshape warfare and shift the outcome of regional conflicts in favor of Ankara’s foreign and security interests, such as in the case of the Azerbaijan-Armenia war in 2020.
TB2 Drones Ensured Azerbaijan’s Victory
TB2 drones played a pivotal role in Azerbaijan winning the 44-day war against Armenia in 2020 over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
TB2 drones obliterated a huge number of Armenian tanks, fighting vehicles, artillery units, and air defenses. Their penetration into Nagorno-Karabakh’s rear also weakened Armenian supply lines and logistics, enabling the eventual Azerbaijani success in battle.
“Thanks to advanced Turkish drones owned by the Azerbaijan military, our casualties on the front shrunk,”
said Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev in a televised interview with the Turkish news channel TRT Haber.
On April 1, 2021, Selçuk Bayraktar was awarded the ‘Karabakh Order’ by President Aliyev in commemoration of the vital role played by TB2s.
The Bayraktar TB2s have now attained an iconic status due to the Ukraine war, as the name ‘Bayraktar’ has become a part of the folklore of Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion.
The Ukrainians have even composed a folk song about the TB2 drones, probably one of the first songs ever written about a combat drone.
Photo: Selçuk Bayraktar, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) flew the Russian-made MiG-29 belonging to the Azerbaijan Air Force to Baku to attend the Teknofest, Azerbaijan, on May 25, 2022. (AA Photo)
Source: Eurasian Times