Neither Azerbaijan nor Turkey has luck with operating drones

Turkey failed to use the Heron drones (unmanned aerial vehicles - UAVs) it had purchased from Israel. However, Ankara justifies itself by saying that the drones are simply unusable.

In 2008, Turkey purchased three Heron drones from Israel costing USD 15 million for use against Kurdish militants. Later, the drones were used in the Batman Province. However, Turkey eventually lost all three UAVs through its own fault: the drones crashed during operations, which rendered them unusable.

Later, Turkey ordered another 10 modernized drones costing USD 200 million. It was too much trouble to deliver the UAVs and this was when Turkey should have realized that the drones are not for itself. Technical problems and failures arose as the drones were brought to Turkey. Turkey had to send some of the drones back to Israel for repairs and is still waiting for Israel to return them. Just lately Prime Minister Erdogan expressed the hope that nevertheless Israel will give back the drones which are “held in captivity.”

Israel recalled from Turkey the specialists maintaining the drones due to the aggravation of the bilateral relations. The Turkish military assumed the burden of their use. They immediately justified the responsibility and managed to crash Heron during operations in Dargeçit district, Mardin province. They justified themselves by saying that the Israeli drones were unusable.

“Heron-refusal” resulted in Turkey’s giving preference to UAVs produced in the country. The drones produced in Turkey carried out reconnaissance flights in Diarbekir. However, this time the disappointment was even bigger: two Turkish drones called “Gozcu” crashed after clashing with birds in the sky. After this failure, Turkey came back to alternative approaches to use planes as drones.

In particular, Erzincan Security Administration and Turkish Aeronautical Association have launched a joint project to use small amateur and training planes as reconnaissance drones. To be short, neither Azerbaijan nor Turkey has luck with operating drones. For Azerbaijan, there is, however, a consolation: the drones they purchase are comparatively cheap and so far only one has been rendered harmless.