Ukraine plans to order a new batch of Turkish Bayraktar drones by the end of 2020
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense is going to purchase another batch of unmanned aerial vehicles Bayraktar TB2 manufactured by Turkey, reports Defense Express.
Kyiv wants to use the new drones to protect the Black Sea and Sea of Azov coast. The Ministry didn’t specify how many drones will be deployed there.
In addition to mobile control stations, which are based on UAVs themselves, Ukraine also plans to purchase several ground-based control stations. This will allow establishing a so-called "control surface" with ground stations being able to pass control over a drone to one another.
The total length of the seacoast of Ukraine, excluding the annexed Crimea is about 800 km. At the same time, the communication range between a ground control station and a drone is now brought to 300 km, without the use of any additional antennas or relays.
In other words, Ukraine will need three such ground-based stations to establish the "control surface" over its southern regions.