Russian air defence system shot down Turkey's Bayraktar UAV during Nagorno-Karabakh war

Russia's Tor-M2KM air defense complex has turned Turkey's Bayraktar combat drone into a pile of debris. The drone wreckage could be identified only by the preserved inscription.

Turkish officials earlier said that Russian Tor complexes were completely ineffective against Bayraktar combat drones. It now appears that Turkey was wrong as a Tor system successfully shot down a Bayraktar UAV, which tried to enter closed airspace. The Tor rocket hit the drone with precision, having smashed it into pieces. 

The Military Informant Telegram channel published the photos of the downed Bayraktar. It was clarified, however, that the incident took place about a year ago. The drone was shot down by Armenian military men. Noteworthy, Turkey and Azerbaijan did not announce any losses among its UAVs during the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Tor missile system is a low to medium altitude, short-range surface-to-air missile system designed for destroying airplanes, helicopters, cruise missiles, precision guided munitions, unmanned aerial vehicles and short-range ballistic anti-munitions. The system is commonly known by its NATO reporting name, SA-15 Gauntlet. Tor was also the first air defence system in the world designed from the start to shoot down precision guided weapons like the AGM-86 ALCM day and night, in bad weather and under jamming conditions.