Shedding light on Turkey’s use of drones in Libya, and why it’s relevant
Turkey’s intervention in the Libyan civil conflict in January 2020 turned the tides of the war, enabling the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) to break the 18-month Libyan National Army’s (LNA) siege on Tripoli. The Turkish intervention was based on four main pillars: the deployment of Turkish-made Bayraktar TB-2 drones, electronic warfare (EW) capabilities, air defense systems and two-to-five thousand Syrian mercenaries to support GNA ground forces. Turkish efforts were initially directed at curbing LNA air power and at neutralizing LNA air defenses. LNA air power was dealt with the deployment of radars and Mim-23 Hawk air defense systems at the Mitiga and Misrata airports. The neutralization of the LNA’s air defenses was achieved via Turkey’s innovative, combined use of TB-2 drones and EW systems as an integrated package. This joint application of the two assets, already experimented in Syria, was further developed in Libya and enabled the GNA to achieve complete