Following their success in numerous conflicts throughout the world, Turkish drones are increasingly being purchased by African states to combat armed groups, according to analyst Paul Melly.
One weapon that the Kyiv administration could already use was the Bayraktar TB2 drone as Ukraine stepped up its early defence against Russia’s invasion and long before Western heavy artillery and rocket launchers started to arrive.
With the aid of this Turkish-made weapon, Azerbaijan was able to overcome Armenian armoured forces and retake a large portion of the land lost during the Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020.
However, those who are impressed by the drone’s powers are not just found in eastern Europe and the Caucasus.
The West African nation of Togo, which is battling to stop the infiltration of Islamist extremists travelling south from Burkina Faso, recently received a shipment of Bayraktar TB2 aircraft.
While in May, Niger bought 12 of these adaptable and reasonably priced drones for its armed conflicts with insurgent groups in the Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert and in the vicinity of Lake Chad.
Ethiopia, Morocco, and Tunisia are some other African nations that have purchased from us, and Angola has also shown interest.
But the UN-recognized government in Libya, where dey were first detected in 2019 and may have helped Tripoli’s forces fend off eastern rebels, may have been the first to utilise these sophisticated surveillance and strike weapons on the continent.
Drones offer African consumers, particularly those in poorer nations, the possibility to create significant air power without the high equipment costs and years of expert training necessary to develop a conventional air attack force of manned planes.
States like Niger and Togo are especially drawn to this.
In order to stage ambushes and launch surprise attacks on remote army and gendarmerie posts, border crossings, and civilian communities, these groups must overcome the difficult challenge of containing highly motivated and mobile bands of Islamist militants. These groups camp out in the bush and ride quickly through the thorny Sahelian terrain on motorcycles.
Several hours’ drive from the nation’s capital, Niamey, in the tri-border region where Niger meets Burkina Faso and Mali, the army of Niger has been battling extremists for years.
Additionally, government forces are fighting a difficult battle to defend the far southeast from attacks by Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap).
The direct reality of the jihadist threat, however, is a very recent and extremely unsettling experience for Togo.
