After months of being away from the combat zone, the iconic Bayraktar TB2 drone has reportedly made a comeback in Ukraine and is being intermittently deployed to chase and hunt Russian vessels in the Black Sea.
In one such incident on September 3, 2025, this Turkish-origin unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) destroyed a Russian high-speed attack boat carrying airborne troops near the Tendrivska Spit.
The attack was confirmed by the Ukrainian Navy, and footage of the engagement was published, showing the TB2’s distinctive targeting interface. The service did not disclose more specific details about the engagement, but the Ukrainian media reported that the drone launched precision-guided munitions on the boat.
“The Navy destroyed another high-speed boat of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which was trying to deliver an airborne troops unit to the Tendrivska Spit. 7 occupiers were destroyed, 4 wounded,” the Ukrainian Navy said in an official statement on Telegram.
The Tendrivska Spit is a narrow stretch of land in the Kherson Oblast (occupied by Russia) on the shore of the northern Black Sea and serves as a foothold for Russian military personnel conducting operations and observation in the northern Black Sea.
As per the Ukrainian media, the Russian troops have especially set up relay stations there to enhance the range of drones used for reconnaissance and strike missions against Ukrainian cities.
Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2 UAVs are increasingly prowling the northwest Black Sea, likely helped major losses among Russian air defenses in the area.
Seen here, a Ukrainian TB2 drops a MAM-L guided bomb on a Russian boat landing troops on the Tendra Spit, Kherson Oblast. pic.twitter.com/2kkikUJc32
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) September 3, 2025
Despite being raided by Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces and the special units of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, the Russians continue to have full control over it.
However, the return of the TB2 drone in the region has given the impression that repeated Ukrainian strikes have now left a big hole in Russian air defense capability in the Black Sea region.
“The presence of naval aviation in the region, where Russian air defense systems traditionally operate actively, may be a result of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine having neutralized enemy radars,” Militarnyi, a Ukrainian publication, said in a report.
🇺🇦 🇷🇺 The fact that Ukraine is once again deploying Bayraktar TB2 drones to hit unsuspecting Russian troops in the Kherson region says a lot about the state of Russian air defense. Continuous drone and rocket strikes on their systems have punched a hole in this sector of the… pic.twitter.com/RK9ARuNIz0
— COSSACKGUNDI (@cossackgundi) September 4, 2025
The Russian military bloggers who share regular battlefield updates also noted a shift in military dynamics in the region. The Russian Military Informer Telegram channel said that while the TB2 was earlier deployed only for reconnaissance missions for fear of being shot down by Russian air defenses, it is now freely operating and conducting strikes “due to regular strikes by Ukrainian drones [launched from boats] with Starlink on air defense and radar on the coast of Kherson region and Crimea.”
The return of TB2 to combat in Ukraine is noteworthy. While these drones dealt severe blows to the Russian troops in the initial months of the conflict, they disappeared from the battlefield a few months later.
The combat-hardened Turkish drone returned to Ukrainian skies in June 2025 and has since been deployed for some major strike missions. For instance, on June 24, the Ukrainian Navy released a video showing a Bayraktar TB2 UCAV engaging a Russian military boat in the Kherson area in Southern Ukraine. The drone obliterated the boat in a precision strike, much like the latest attack. The incident marked the first sighting of the TB2 in months.
https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1937395050415009965
Another footage featuring the drone was published by the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine in August 2025. The drone was seen conducting a strike against a russian boat near the occupied Zaliznyi Port in the Kherson region. Therefore, September 3 is TB2’s third such strike against Russian boats, which likely belong to its Black Sea Fleet (BSF).
These attacks, however few in number, represent a kind of comeback for a weapon that proved extremely potent in the early stages of the full-scale conflict against Russian ground convoys and ships.
Interestingly, the return of TB2 comes amid a surge in global popularity and interest in the drone. For instance, Japan is currently evaluating the TB2 alongside the Israeli Heron, as it bolsters its combat capability against an increasingly aggressive China in the East China Sea, as reported by the EurAsian Times last month.
When TB2 Gave Russia A Hard Time
The TB2 is a medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) drone designed for both reconnaissance and precision strikes. It can carry up to four MAM-L or MAM-C munitions, has a 24-hour flight endurance, and operates at ranges exceeding 150 kilometres. Known for its precision, the drone costs less than $5 million per unit. It is, in a way, ideal for targeting small naval vessels and ground assets with minimal collateral damage.
Ukraine has been using TB2s since 2019, with Baykar, the manufacturer, establishing a service center in Ukraine for maintenance and repairs in 2023.
The TB2 posed a stiff resistance to the Russian troops immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine. It specifically targeted Russian armored convoys, especially in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions and the areas surrounding the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
The drone destroyed Russian tanks, armored personnel carriers, and supply trucks using precision-guided MAM-L and MAM-C missiles. At the time, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry released videos showing TB2 drones striking moving columns with pinpoint accuracy.
In the weeks that followed, the TB2s proved to be instrumental in targeting Russian short-range air defense systems like the Tor and Pantsir-S1. By destroying or suppressing these systems, TB2s created operational space for Ukrainian forces to maneuver and conduct further drone strikes that soon became the most defining feature of Ukraine’s resistance.
In one of the first and most notable examples of such strikes, the TB2 was seen taking out the Russian Buk in a viral video published in March 2022.
These strikes delayed Russian offensives, particularly around Kyiv, buying time for Ukraine to mobilize defenses and receive Western aid.
The most iconic TB2 success was its role in the sinking of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s flagship, the cruiser Moskva, on April 13, 2022.
The Turkish-origin drone reportedly provided reconnaissance support and distracted the Russian air defenses, allowing the Neptune anti-ship missile to hit the BSF flagship vessel successfully. This was the first significant blow to the Russian Black Sea Fleet, and one that it never recovered from.
TB2s also targeted smaller Russian patrol boats and landing craft near Odesa, thwarting the enemy’s attempts at establishing naval footholds.
The Turkish-origin drone that had already proved its combat prowess in the Nogorno-Karabakh conflict soon became a cultural icon in Ukraine, with a song named ‘Bayraktar’ dedicated to it during the early war period.
However, as Russia bolstered its air defense and electronic warfare systems, TB2s became more vulnerable and were largely relegated to reconnaissance in less contested areas. By December 2022, the Turkish-origin UAVs were believed to have largely vanished from the battlefield and were relegated to reconnaissance in less contested areas.
Soon after, reports indicated that the drones had disappeared from the Ukrainian skies. However, they returned on September 3, 2023, when the Ukrainian Defense Ministry published a video of the TB2 destroying a Russian patrol boat of the KS-701 Tunet-class, as reported by the EurAsian Times at the time. Military watchers on social media joked that the Ukrainian military seemed to be playing with a “new set of toys.”
The drones receded from the Ukrainian airspace once again, and were largely replaced by cheap and expendable, First Person View (FPV) and kamikaze drones deployed by the Ukrainians to launch attacks on Russian military targets.
The combat performance of the TBS drones, nonetheless, drew global attention, and several customers lined up to buy them.
The return of the TB2 drones to the combat field may be due to the decimation of the Russian air defense systems. However, it is also a signal that the war has entered a crucial point where offsetting Russian gains and preventing an advance has become a strategic imperative.
At this point, the TB2 is an ideal weapon system because it can be used for a variety of missions, including some very dangerous ones. Moreover, the loss of the drone would not be as significant, especially since it is now being produced in the country.
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