A screenshot from a Baykar video showing the first launch and recovery of the TB3 Bayraktar UCAV from Türkiye's Anadolu aircraft carrier on 19 November. (Baykar)
Türkiye has flown its Baykar Bayraktar TB3 unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) for the first time from the deck of the TCG Anadolu (L 400) landing helicopter dock (LHD) aircraft carrier.
The milestone on 19 November came 13 months after the TB3's maiden flight in October 2023, which itself came six months after the larger version of the TB2 was officially unveiled in April 2023.
“The Bayraktar TB3 has made history as the first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to successfully take off and land on the short-runway carrier TCG Anadolu ,” Baykar said on its official X (formerly Twitter) account.
The turboprop-powered TB3 has been designed with folding wings for service aboard the Anadolu , where it will operate alongside the jet-powered Baykar Bayraktar Kızılelma UCAV as part of an exclusively unmanned fixed-wing air wing (the first such air wing in the world).
The TB3 has a higher maximum take-off weight (MTOW) that will enable it to carry a larger and heavier payload than its TB2 stablemate. It has a length of 8.35 m, a height of 2.6 m, a wingspan of 14 m, a MTOW of 1,450 kg, and can carry a payload of 280 kg. The maximum speed is 150 kt and the cruise speed is 125 kt. The maximum altitude is 30,000 ft, while its maximum mission radius is 2,200 km at 20,000 ft.
Prior to this latest milestone, Baykar said it had simulated ‘thousands' of landings of the TB3 aboard Anadolu
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