The Bayer TB2, a drone developed by Baikal, Turkey, was used by Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020 and achieved great results. It is reported that Ukraine will buy 12 aircraft and further permit production.
It is worth mentioning that some reports have been misunderstood that Bayer TB2 is not an one-off suicide drone (stray drone), but a long-range-controlled reconnaissance attack drone that can return and re-attack.
Compared with the US military's MQ-9 Lipper UAV, the Bayer TB2 is about half the full length and width and weighs about 1/8, and is a small fuselage. Remote operation uses simple predictive line communication (LOS communication) instead of satellite communication, which is successfully exported due to low procurement costs.
Reference: basic knowledge of military drones (October 19, 2019)
So will the drone, called Bayer TB2, be used against Russian forces hostile to Ukraine? The answer is no.
Double TB2 (unmanned attack aircraft)
Amur10 Redburg II (manned attack aircraft)
For example, the Amure 10 attack aircraft of the US military is a powerful ground-to-ground attack aircraft with heavy armor, but because it is not concealed and its speed is very slow, it is well known that it can operate satisfactorily only under its own aviation advantages. If so, because the Bayer TB-2 is a smaller slow aircraft than the Amur10, it can only fly freely under its own aviation advantages. Neither side can survive in the airspace where enemy high-speed jets fly in with their own faces.
Reference: Saudi Arabian fighter planes shot down several Husi drones for successful air defense (March 9, 2021)
During the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, the Armenian army was unable to actively invest in a small number of precious fighters for fear of surface-to-air missiles, and the Azerbaijani army was able to put in all kinds of drones without paying attention to air combat. The Azerbaijani army then invested in Israeli-made anti-radar suicide drones to control an enemy air defense network made up of radar and surface-to-air missiles. After that, we invested the great man TB-2 and defeated a large number of tanks, armored vehicles and so on.
Reference: air defense net suppresses drone tactics in the second Karabakh War (December 11, 2020)
In the battle of Karabakh, the two main reasons for Bayer TB-2's great success are the major premises.
But the Ukrainian army cannot prepare this premise for Russian opponents. First of all, it is desperate to ensure that Russian air force opponents gain aviation superiority in terms of the combat effectiveness of the Ukrainian air force. It is necessary to carry out the War of Resistance on the premise that aviation superiority is deprived. And it is impossible to suppress the enemy air defense net in this state.
Bayer TB2 is not an equipment that can be actively invested by enemies who are more powerful than their own. The flight speed is slow, there is no concealment, because it is visual line communication (LOS communication), so long-distance can not fly at low altitude. It can be used only against pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine (Donetsk, Luhansk), but it is almost impossible for Russian regular army opponents.
Because it is a drone, there is also an active method of fighting without fear of damage under the advantage of enemy aviation, but if it is the disadvantage of attacking but most of them can not come back, disposable suicide drones are more cost-effective. Weili TB2, as a reconnaissance and attack drone that can strike again, is a small body and is quite cheap, but even so, each aircraft costs 500-600 million yen. Because its price is several times that of a cruise missile, it will not be commensurate with the purchase cost if it cannot be used several more times.
Among the opponents of the Russian regular army, Bayer TB2 should not casually engage in dangerous attack tasks, but should carry out reconnaissance, surveillance, observation, and so on. If there are only 12 aircraft, it will not take long to continue to invest under the advantage of enemy aviation.
Perhaps Ukraine will only consider the opponents of the pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine when buying the Bayraktal TB2, rather than dealing with the main force of the Russian regular army.