The Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 combat drone has been sighted in a satellite photo in Pakistan for the first time, raising the possibility that the country is operating the aircraft.
The silhouette of the drone was spotted by Damien Symon, an image intelligence analyst, in a satellite photo of the taxiway of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Base Murid, Punjab province.
Imagery from Air Force Base Murid, #Pakistan shows a likely Baykar Bayraktar TB2 UAV onsite, range ring allows visualization of the area the drone could operate over pic.twitter.com/TgFPVhPWoc
— Damien Symon (@detresfa_) May 30, 2022
If true, this constitutes the first confirmation of TB2 being used by PAF.
Rumors of Pakistan acquiring Turkish-made drones started circulating at the beginning of 2022. In March, PAF posted several videos that included shots of both Bayraktar TB2 and Akinci, an upcoming Bayraktar drone which still under development.
There has been no official statement about Pakistan purchasing Turkish drones from either party. However, Pakistani officials visited Bayraktar facilities in 2021, while Turkish Aerospace and Pakistan signed a contract for the joint development of TAI Anka, another of Turkey’s upcoming combat drones.
A single TB2 does not necessarily indicate PAF is operating the type, as the drone could have been flown in for the purpose of demonstration, evaluation, or be a mockup.