Daniel Vittar
06/08/2020 - 7:01
- Clarín.com
- World
As in a futuristic Hollywood movie, and amid the coronavirus pandemic that still distresses the world, the sky of North Africa experienced an unusual battle of drones last month , considered by specialists as the largest in the world until moment.
In this case, those who chose the stage were not enthusiastic film producers, but world powers in conflict over the resources of the area . Incidentally, they took the opportunity to test their new and increasingly sophisticated war technologies.
The specific place was Libya, a country dismembered by the civil war that never recovered after the sunset, defeat and death of Mohamar Kadafi. And the protagonists, Turkey, Russia and the dark marshal Khalifa Haftar who controls much of the Arab country.
AFP
But the central figures were the modern Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones , which swept with Haftar's armor and fighters when he tried to take the suburbs of Tripoli, a city under the control of the Government of National Accord (GAN).
They are known as UCAV, for its acronym in English “Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle”, or unmanned aerial combat vehicles.
Chinese Wing Loong drones and French fighters used by the Marshal's forces also intervened in the contest .
Today Libya is under the strain of the great powers, who claim the enormous wealth of hydrocarbons in its territory and, especially, on its maritime coast.
Commander Khalifa Haftar. AFP
Turkish President of Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed an agreement with the weak Libyan National Government at the end of last year to exploit resources in a wide area of the Mediterranean, which includes a controversial border delimitation. This unnerved the countries of the region because it marks the breakdown of freedom of movement in this sea.
Today, the division is marked on the Libyan battlefield. The GAN is backed by the UN, Turkey and Qatar. Its rival, the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Haftar, has the support of Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Also from France, but in a more sly way.
Marshal Haftar, a former Gaddafi military man who survived the Libyan collapse thanks to his ties to the US CIA and the services of other countries, formed an army made up of militias from various Arab tribes . It directs the oil wells in the east, with an axis in Benghazi.
Neither side has its own aviation, but they do receive it from sponsors, which turned the civil war in Libya into a multinational conflict.
The United Arab Emirates provided the Haftar forces with some Chinese-made “Wing Loong II” French fighters and drones. Russia sent him mercenary troops from the powerful private contractor Wagner Group, and the Pantsir S-1 air defense system.
With this arsenal Haftar launched an offensive in May in order to take the Libyan capital Tripoli. He already had Al-Watiya Air Base, a key point in the conflict.
But it did not count on the reaction of Turkey , which sent its sophisticated Bayraktar TB2, powerful drones of its own manufacture. They are armed and have high precision missile launchers, guided by a laser sight.
It is estimated that they carried out 1,000 air raids. In relatively flat and desert terrain like Libya, drones feasted on the armor and troops.
These aircraft are equipped with long-range anti-tank missiles called UMTAS, which can hit a tank with absolute precision up to 8 km away.
The first thing they did was destroy the defense systems of the Haftar forces, and then they began to attack the armor and the militias. In a week they managed to take several coastal cities and defeat the marshal. Russian Wagner Group troops had to withdraw.
The LNA lost Al Watiya airport first, and this week Tripoli airport, which had controlled it for years. All as a result of the intervention of the Turkish drones.
Chinese Wing Loong drones, which came into the hands of the LNA in 2016, made a significant difference at first. They were operated by UAE pilots from Al Khadim Air Base.
They can carry up to 12 laser-guided bombs or missiles . They are expensive, and they did not get enough into Haftar's hands.
Instead Turkey, which has a keen interest in exploiting hydrocarbons in the Libyan Mediterranean, shipped a good number of its Bayraktar TB2 drones, and they were defining in the last battle.
With this warlike development, Turkey joined the select group of countries that produce warlike drones, led by the United States, China, Israel and Iran.
Drones became the stars of warfare. They carry out different functions, such as aerial reconnaissance, surgical attacks, and destruction of armor and troops. And today, by virtue of the technological development that took place, they are of amazing accuracy.
In fact Turkey used them to assassinate Kurdish leaders in northern Syria.
They have the ease of being managed remotely, from well-protected bases, without risk to their operators, or autonomously by on-board computers.
The deployment in the Libyan sky demonstrated how powerful they are in combat, and the precision of their weapons, opening a new stage for warfare technology.