Bayraktar TB2 in Africa: Operators, Specifications and Combat Record
The Bayraktar TB2 Africa story began in Libya in 2019 and now stretches across the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Guinea coast. By public reporting, about a dozen African states operate the Turkish armed drone, though only some have confirmed it themselves. This guide sets out who flies it, what the manufacturer says it can do, where it has fought, how it has failed and how Türkiye keeps customers supplied and trained. Status labels reflect what could be confirmed at the time of writing. Where a figure rests on one tracker or one press report, the text says so.
What the Bayraktar TB2 is and how it works
The TB2 is a medium-altitude, long-endurance armed drone built by the Turkish company Baykar. It is a propeller-driven aircraft powered by a 100 hp internal combustion engine, and it takes off, lands and cruises autonomously under the control of a ground station, according to Baykar’s official TB2 page.
The sensor payload is an electro-optical, infrared and laser designator package, or a surveillance radar. Weapons include laser-guided, INS/GPS-guided and infrared-guided munitions and mini cruise missiles. Malian aircraft have been shown armed with Roketsan MAM-L laser-guided bombs.
Published unit prices run from about USD 2 million to USD 5 million depending on configuration and source, which helps explain its appeal to armies with modest budgets. Contract values for African deals are rarely disclosed.
Bayraktar TB2 specifications
The figures below come from Baykar’s own page. The manufacturer gives no operational range, and its page carries a few inconsistent headline claims, such as 20+ hours in the air and a 22,000 ft maximum altitude, against the 18+ hours and 20,000 ft in the specification list.
| Parameter | Baykar figure |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 12 m |
| Length / height | 6.4 m / 2.2 m |
| Maximum take-off weight | 700 kg |
| Payload capacity | 150 kg |
| Endurance | 18+ hours (recorded flight: 27 h 3 min) |
| Service ceiling / operational altitude | 20,000 ft / 16,000 ft |
| Speed | 90 to 110 KTAS |
| Data link | Line of sight and beyond line of sight |
Bayraktar TB2 Africa operators and orders
Military Africa’s procurement database counts 143 TB2 across 11 African countries, about half of the 291 Turkish drones it logs on the continent. The database gives TB2-specific numbers for only two users, Libya’s Tripoli-based forces (30) and Sudan’s army (9), so the total is best read as an estimate. The table covers every Bayraktar TB2 Africa customer named in open sources and uses these labels: operator (confirmed by an official, the manufacturer or direct visual evidence), reported (credible reporting without official confirmation) and unconfirmed (a claim only).
| Country | Status | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Libya (Tripoli-based forces) | Operator | 2019 | Erdoğan acknowledged TB2 support in December 2019; fleet size not published |
| Ethiopia | Operator | 2021 | TB2 imaged near Addis Ababa in December 2021; Baykar’s chief decorated by Addis Ababa in 2023 |
| Morocco | Operator | 2021 | 13 ordered in April 2021; first batch September 2021, per unofficial sources; Rabat has not published fleet size |
| Somalia | Reported | 2021 | UN experts reported delivery on 6 December 2021; Ankara told them the systems served Turkish forces |
| Niger | Operator | 2022 | Six delivered in May 2022; contract value undisclosed |
| Burkina Faso | Operator | 2022 | Five reported delivered April to May 2022; one crashed in 2023 |
| Djibouti | Operator | 2022 | Shown at a June 2022 parade; Baykar then acknowledged the export; quantity not disclosed |
| Mali | Operator | 2022 | First aircraft shown in December 2022; serial TZ-17D in January 2024 implies at least 17; no official total |
| Togo | Reported | 2022 | Single-source report from August 2022; number unknown |
| Kenya | Reported | 2024 | Crews trained at Baykar’s Keşan centre in August 2024; six deliveries reported, no official confirmation found |
| Nigeria | Operator | 2022 to 2024 | An army officer cited 43 acquired in December 2024; delivery dates not published |
| Sudan (army) | Reported | 2023 to 2024 | Press accounts cite eight; estimates range from three to nine; no Turkish confirmation found |
| Algeria | Unconfirmed | 2022 | Spanish press claimed a deal; no confirmation found |
| Angola | Unconfirmed | 2021 | Interest reported in 2021; listed as a Baykar client in 2025 press; no delivery found |
| Tunisia | Not confirmed | n/a | Some lists name Tunisia as a client, but the publicly documented order is for the Anka-S |
For the Niger deal in detail, see Why Did Niger Buy the Bayraktar TB2?, and for Rabat’s purchases and the planned factory, what Morocco buys from Türkiye.
Bayraktar TB2 Africa combat record
Libya was the proving ground. In 2019 and 2020, Turkish drones supported the Tripoli government against Khalifa Haftar’s offensive. Al Jazeera, citing the UN envoy, described nearly 1,000 drone strikes as the largest drone war in the world. When Tripoli-based forces retook the Al-Watiya airbase in May 2020, Russian-made Pantsir air defences had been reported destroyed, a result media accounts partly credited to Turkish jamming equipment.
In Ethiopia, the TB2 is credited by Addis Ababa with turning the 2021 war against the Tigrayan forces. That claim comes from the honour awarded to Baykar’s chief, not from an independent battle assessment.
In the Sahel, Mali and Niger fly the drone in counter-insurgency. Niger has used armed TB2s in the tri-border area since 2022. Human Rights Watch documented a strike in Kokoloko on 6 January 2026 that killed at least 17 civilians, but it could not identify the aircraft or munition and the junta did not respond. The HRW findings therefore cannot be tied to the TB2.
In Sudan, the army has used TB2s against Rapid Support Forces convoys and artillery, according to ADF Magazine. Mali’s fleet is documented by serial number rather than by confirmed strikes, as defenceWeb reported in January 2024.
Where the TB2 struggles
The aircraft is slow and large for a modern air-defence environment. In Libya in 2019, Janes recorded two TB2 destroyed in strikes on Misrata Air Academy on 6 and 7 June and a third shot down on 30 June. In Ukraine, the drone became highly exposed once Russia layered electronic warfare and short-range air defence, and Ukraine largely withdrew it from attack roles by 2023.
African losses follow the same pattern wherever the opponent has some defences. Sudan War Monitor counted at least five Sudanese TB2 lost by December 2025, with the cause of the latest crash unconfirmed. It lists shoulder-fired FN-6 missiles, ZPU-4 guns and jamming among the Rapid Support Forces’ counters. A Burkinabe TB2 crashed near Tenkodogo in 2023, with no cause published.
Ground stations are a target too. Militarnyi reported in September 2025 that Azawad rebels hit a TB2 control centre near Tessalit in Mali with an FPV drone, citing an analyst channel, so the extent of the damage is unverified.
Support is the quieter limit. Canada blocked exports of L3 Wescam sensor turrets to Türkiye in 2022, and Malian TB2s were delivered with the Turkish Aselsan CATS turret instead. Serviceability rates for African fleets are not published.
How Türkiye sells and supports the system
Training is part of the package. Kenyan crews graduated from Baykar’s Flight Training Centre at Keşan in August 2024. A Nigerian Army space command officer said in December 2024 that 46 personnel trained in Türkiye between May and September 2022, among them pilots, mission operators and technicians. On 7 April 2026, the Turkish and Nigerien defence ministers signed a protocol on in-country training support, although press coverage of it does not mention drones.
The model is moving from export to local presence. Baykar and Morocco signed a strategic agreement in December 2024, and the Benslimane plant’s scope remains disputed. How these deals fit with other Turkish platforms is covered in Turkish Systems in African Armed Forces.
Politics and export controls also matter. The UN Panel of Experts on Somalia concluded in 2022 that Türkiye breached the arms embargo by delivering TB2s without seeking an exemption, which Ankara disputed, saying the systems were for Turkish forces.
How the TB2 compares with Chinese and other alternatives
Chinese drones are the main rival. Ethiopia flew Wing Loong and Iranian Mohajer-6 aircraft alongside the TB2, and Nigeria’s air force relies on Wing Loong II, CH-3 and CH-4 types, whose record is reviewed in Chinese Drones in Nigeria. In Libya, the Wing Loong had the longer combat radius, about 1,500 km, against a shorter TB2 reach.
Buyers that want options beyond Ankara and Beijing have more of them than before. Six alternatives to the Bayraktar TB2 for Africa compares the competing airframes. Several governments buy from more than one supplier rather than standardise.
FAQ
Which African countries operate the Bayraktar TB2?
Libya’s Tripoli-based forces, Ethiopia, Morocco, Niger, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Mali and Nigeria have confirmed or visibly evidenced TB2 use at the time of writing. Somalia, Togo, Kenya and Sudan are credibly reported but not officially confirmed. Algeria and Angola remain claims only.
How many TB2 are in Africa?
No official count exists. Military Africa’s database estimates 143 aircraft across 11 countries, but gives TB2-specific numbers for only Libya and Sudan. Mali’s serial numbers imply at least 17, and a Nigerian army officer cited 43. Treat any continental total as an estimate.
How much does a Bayraktar TB2 cost?
Press estimates range from roughly USD 2 million to USD 5 million per aircraft, depending on configuration and source. A full system adds ground stations, spares and training, and African contract values are mostly undisclosed, so unit prices cannot be checked against deals.
Has the TB2 been shot down in Africa?
Yes. At least three were reported lost in Libya in mid-2019, and Sudan War Monitor counted at least five Sudanese losses by December 2025, though causes are often unconfirmed. Burkina Faso lost one in a 2023 crash. Cause was not disclosed.
Sources
- Baykar, Bayraktar TB2 specifications
- Military Africa, Africa drone procurement database
- defenceWeb, Mali receives more Bayraktar TB2 UAVs (19 January 2024)
- Human Rights Watch, Niger: Military Drone Strike Kills 17 Civilians (9 February 2026)
- ADF Magazine, As Drone Warfare Expands in Africa, Turkey Increases Share of the Market (February 2025)
- Al Jazeera, Largest drone war in the world: how airpower saved Tripoli (28 May 2020)
- Janes, Turkish UAVs suffer high attrition in Libya (12 December 2019)
- Sudan War Monitor, Sudan Air Force loses another Bayraktar attack drone (11 December 2025)
- The War Zone, Ukraine’s TB-2 Bayraktar drones are striking Russian forces again (4 September 2025)
- Stockholm Center for Freedom, UN says Turkey violated arms embargo by sending drones to Somalia (report of the UN Panel of Experts, 1 September 2022)
- The New Arab, Morocco receives first order of Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones (September 2021)
- Gazete Birlik, Türkiye-Niger on-site training protocol (7 April 2026)
