Bayraktar TB2 vs MQ-9 Reaper
The Bayraktar TB2 became famous as a relatively cheap armed drone; the MQ-9 Reaper is the American benchmark of its class. The Reaper is much larger (20.1 metres of wingspan against 12) and carries about 1,701 kg against 150, more than ten times as much. Watch the range: the TB2's 150 km is its line-of-sight link radius, not how far it can fly, so it is not directly comparable with the Reaper's 1,850 km.
MQ-9 Reaper is 1.7 times larger than Bayraktar TB2
Reference range: a 12.3× difference.
Size to scale
Reference range
Bayraktar TB2 — 150 km
MQ-9 Reaper — 1,850 km
Logarithmic scale from 1 km to 100,000 km.
Payload or warhead
Bayraktar TB2 — 150 kg
MQ-9 Reaper — 1,701 kg
Logarithmic scale from 1 kg to 10,000 kg.
Bayraktar TB2
12 m · 150 km · 150 kg
Baykar: line-of-sight link range; about 27 hours of endurance.
MQ-9 Reaper
20.1 m · 1,850 km · 1,701 kg
USAF fact sheet: 3,750 lb of external payload.
* Open-source estimate. Range may be control-link, flight or ferry range depending on the system; it is not a combat radius.
Figures used and how reliable they are
- Bayraktar TB2: 12 m, 150 km, 150 kg. Baykar: line-of-sight link range; about 27 hours of endurance.
- MQ-9 Reaper: 20.1 m, 1,850 km, 1,701 kg. USAF fact sheet: 3,750 lb of external payload.
Related comparisons
- MQ-9 Reaper vs Global Hawk
- Bayraktar TB2 vs Wing Loong II
- MQ-1 Predator vs MQ-9 Reaper
- FPV drone vs Shahed-136
Compare any other pair in the military drone comparison, with its full method. More context: Modern warfare · Weapons · All tools
Sources / References
- U.S. Air Force official fact sheets for the MQ-1, MQ-9 and RQ-4.
- Baykar, AeroVironment and Teledyne FLIR public product sheets.
- RUSI reports on drone use in Ukraine.
- CSIS and IISS open-source analysis of Shahed, Lancet and Orlan.