Having useful weapons platforms can do wonders for a country. One nation that is currently reaping the benefits of having such systems available for export currently is Turkey.
Turkey has been able to produce Drones that have proven to be effective in various conflict zones. The TB2 Drone has been used successfully in the Civil War in Libya, The most recent conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nogorno-Karakbah region and is one of the factors that has changed the initiative in the fighting in Ukraine.
The popularity of these platforms will lead people to wonder where these platforms will appear next. There is a partial list available.
During the week of October 10th Shepard Media a news outlet from Great Britain that monitors the Defense Trade reported that Algeria had ordered six Aksunger UAVs from their manufacturer Turkish Aerospace. This will be their first use in North Africa and could be seen as a sign that relations with Morocco are not improving.
This news comes scarcely a week after it was reported that Drones that were manufactured by Bayraktar the TS2 are being deployed against Al-Shabaab in Somalia. The Turkish vehicles are also supporting the efforts of the US Military to degrade the Militant Group as a threat to Somalia.
Somalia is not the only African Country where the TS2 has appeared. Between April and May 2022 5 TS2’s were delivered to Burkina Faso. With that Military Junta that agreed to purchase these platforms itself being ousted in a coup recently it has yet to be determined how the new leadership will deploy these platforms to deal with the insurgency that is ravaging the northern part of the Country. It should also be noted that two of the immediate neighbors of Burkina Niger and Togo are also using that platforms.
Nigeria has also shown interest in and has announced plans to purchase the TB2. It has been revealed that the Nigerian Police Force has already had the Songar UAVs delivered and are currently receiving training on these platforms.
There has been an order of six TB2s made by Nigeria however Sanctions that have been imposed by both the United States and Canada on specific components on this platform have delayed the delivery. This is not the first time that Nigeria as attempted to purchase weapons systems (remember the Cobra Helicopters from Jordan?) from another country only to run afoul of the United States.
At this time the question has to be where the next conflict zone is that these platforms will appear.
Bangladesh has ordered the TS2 for the issues that plague the country as well. However we shouldn’t expect that they will be the only country to show interest either
