Baykar’s indigenously developed Bayraktar TB3 UCAV successfully made its first flight on the 100th anniversary of the Republic. Bayraktar TB3 will be the first armed unmanned aerial vehicle in the world with the capability to land and take off on short-runway ships.
Baykar is a company whose culture of continuous production and development plays a leading role in the success of defense technologies that enter the inventory of the Turkish Armed Forces and are exported abroad. It successfully completed its first flight test on the 100th anniversary of the Republic.
The first flight test of the Bayraktar TB3 UCAV, conducted under the direction of Baykar Chairman and Technology Leader Selçuk Bayraktar, began on Friday, October 27, two days before the Republic Day, with the completion of ground tests at the AKINCI Flight Training and Test Center in Tekirdağ’s Çorlu district. In its first flight, Bayraktar TB3 took off with the PD-170 engine developed locally by TEI, and the engine used by Bayraktar TB3, which produces 170 horsepower, was developed in accordance with sea conditions.
With its folding wing structure, the Bayraktar TB3 UCAV will be the first armed unmanned aerial vehicle in the world to be capable of taking off and landing from short-runway ships such as the TCG Anadolu. The capabilities of Bayraktar TB3 will be an important innovation in terms of unmanned aerial vehicles in this class. The national UCAV, which will also have beyond line-of-sight communication capability, will be able to be controlled from very long distances. Thus, it will have a multiplier effect on Turkey’s deterrent power by performing reconnaissance-surveillance, intelligence and attack missions with the smart munitions it carries against overseas targets.
In our journey of unmanned aerial vehicles, which we have been developing for the fully independent and free future of our country for nearly 20 years, starting from 6 kilograms and reaching 6 tons, to the first unmanned fighter jet of our country with Bayraktar KIZILELMA, we tried to do our best as engineers and technicians in the 100th anniversary of our Republic. Let it be our gift to the 100th anniversary of our Republic.”