Albania and Kosovo already have them, Serbia has prepared the money, and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) also wants them.
There is a craze in the region for Turkish killer drones "Bayraktar". Why are they so much in demand and do they change the balance of power in the region?
"I'm not ashamed to say that we want to buy unmanned aerial vehicles "Barjaktar", but the whole world wants them, so we stood in line", said Serbian President Aleksandar Vućić during the last visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Belgrade.
The Serbian president then said that the state, if necessary, would pay hundreds of millions of euros for those aircraft.
BiH Defense Minister Zukan Helez is currently in Turkey, but he did not directly answer Deutsche Welle's (DW) question whether BiH will ask Ankara for "TB-2 fighter jets".
"We want everything that can contribute to the defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and our focus is on defense systems," says Helez.
He adds that every minister would like his country to have the most modern weapons "including the most modern drones".
However, before Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo received the "Bajraktar" this May.
"Kosovo is now even safer and prouder," said Kosovo Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti when Kosovo security forces took over the Turkish drones.
It is not known how much money the authorities in Pristina allocated for five drones, but one costs about three million euros, while the price of the control station, which is managed by six "flag bearers", is from 25 to 35 million euros.
Cautious reviews
Even before the Turkish drones arrived in Kosovo, Vučić said that this would affect relations between Belgrade and Ankara, even though Serbia "expressly respects Erdogan".
"Not only do they have no right according to international law to arm someone who is not a state, but you can see how much they care about international law," said Vućić.
Turkey, however, recognizes Kosovo as an independent state.
The delivery of "Bajraktar" to Kosovo confirms in Ankara that "it will firmly stand behind Pristina", Belgrade-based military analyst Aleksandar Radić says in a comment for DW.
"It is a political message that the Kosovo Security Forces (KBS) have an ally," says Radić.
He notes that KFOR also includes a battalion of the Turkish army, and that a Turkish general will take command of KFOR in the fall.
"Obviously, the political stake of the official Ankara in the Balkans is being raised strongly," says the DW interlocutor.
Trade without American consent?
According to Radić, the purchase of Turkish drones could have been done without American approval.
"The Americans are not in a position to prohibit the procurement of weapons for the KBS, but through KFOR instruments they can control flights, because any activity in the airspace of Kosovo must be approved," he notes.
According to the new Kosovo law, the KBS can acquire "all kinds of equipment", but KFOR, adhering to the old law, does not allow the acquisition of offensive systems.
"Drones like the TB-2 are not recognized as offensive systems and there is no legal obstacle to their acquisition," says Radić.
Namely, drones are not aviation tools like offensive planes or helicopters, nor do they use classic aviation ammunition.
"Pancir-S1" against "banjaktar TB-22
Serbian Defense Minister Miloš Vucevic assesses that the KBS is arming itself with "powerful systems" which, he says, is a violation of Security Council Resolution 1244 and the Kumanovo Agreement.
"Apart from drones, they also received howitzers, mortars, anti-tank systems," warns Vucevic, noting that the weapons of the KBS still cannot be compared with the potential of the Serbian Armed Forces.
Aleksandar Radić confirms that Kosovo's "bajraktars" are a "serious challenge" for the Serbian army, because they can be used for border reconnaissance flights from the airspace under the jurisdiction of KFOR.
"In a potential radical scenario, there is an answer to that drone - the S1E body armor. The Serbian Army has one battery with six combat machines of that artillery-missile air defense system adapted to combat drones," Radić told DW.
The countries of the region are not waiting for the West?
Serbia bought air defense systems "Pancir-S1" from Russia, and Russian "Pancir-SXNUMX" operated in Ukraine against Bajraktar.
Radić says "effectively", but the military analyst from Sarajevo, Nedžad Ahatović, claims that the Russian army "grounded the Bajraktars" primarily with electronic jamming.
"I don't believe that the Russian Federation will reveal this technology to anyone anytime soon," says Ahatović.
A Sarajevo military analyst believes that by purchasing Turkish drones, Kosovo "received a weapon of strategic importance to deter aggression."
"It is a message that even 'weak' regional states can strengthen their position independently of the will of the West, which is not necessarily directed against Western interests," Ahatović told DW.
And the interest of the West in the Balkans, reminds Ahatović, is to deter Russian influence.
The Turkish drone craze
Many countries are ready to allocate millions in order to obtain the currently most sought-after combat drone - the "Ayraktar TB-2". Ahatović believes that Turkish drones are also needed by the BiH Armed Forces.
"As in Kosovo, tactical drones would also be a means of strategic deterrence from various forms of security threats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the best thing for the region would be for the Turkish "bajraktars" to come to Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina at the same time," says the interviewee of DW.
The Turkish drone has gained fame on all the battlefields where it has been used.
The Turks used it as early as 2015 in border attacks (toward Syria) against members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which Ankara declared a "terrorist organization."
Then they acted against the terrorists of the Islamic State, but also against the regular Syrian army under the control of Bashar al-Assad.
Bayraktars allegedly defeated the self-proclaimed marshal Khalifa Haftar in front of Tripoli, who marched on the Libyan capital with the support of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group.
Turkey counts on the global market and influence
"Bajraktars" also proved themselves in the last conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020.
"When Azerbaijan broke the resistance of Armenia, it did so with the help of "bayraktars" who in 40 days achieved what Azerbaijan had been fighting for for the past 30 years on the hills of the mountain enclave," says Ahatović.
"Bajraktars" are tactical drones that can stay in the air for 26 to 34 hours. They are powered by gasoline engines with which they can develop a speed of 220 kilometers per hour and carry up to 200 kilograms of deadly cargo.
"Their advantage is precision, lethality, quick response to potential threats and, most importantly, neutralization of the enemy's manpower and material and technical means with minimal own losses," says Ahatović.
He notes that Turkey developed its drones only after Western allies refused to supply Ankara with technology in the field, including the modern U.S. Rapier drones.
At least 15 countries have purchased Turkish drones, and among them are some NATO members such as Poland, which has 24 such aircraft. Last year, Albania also bought three Turkish drones.
It was announced that a factory for the production of these aircraft will be built in Ukraine by 2025.
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