The Turkish company BAYKAR continues to carry out test flights of the new Bayraktar TB3 combat drone. In this last stage, the aim was to achieve greater autonomy for the unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) without reducing speed and, soon, takeoff and landing tests will be carried out from the Amphibious Assault Ship TCG Anadolu of the Turkish Navy.
Bayraktar currently has two prototypes of the Bayraktar TB3. Designated as “PT-1” and “PT-2”, these managed to achieve a total of 272 hours and 47 minutes flown in various tests. The longest of all flights took place on December 20, 2023, where 32 hours in the air were reached with 20,000 feet flying over a distance of 5,700 kilometers.
The first baptismal flight took place on October 27, 2023 in test fields located in the northwest of the country and from there the different types of flights followed. For example, the launch on March 26 involved the incorporation of the ASELFLIR-500 manufactured by the company Aselsan, an electro-optical system to optimize recognition, surveillance and guidance at long distances.
The next challenge will be for the Bayraktar TB3 to have a STOL capability to facilitate takeoffs and landings on short runways such as that of the Turkish Navy’s TCG Anadolu Amphibious Assault Ship. In this sense, Selçuk Bayraktar, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of BAYKAR and Chairman of the Board of Directors, announced that he plans to begin testing the Bayraktar TB3 on the ship this year.
The TB3 has a maximum takeoff weight of 1,450 kilograms, with a payload capacity of 280 kilograms. This represents an increase in the capacities and configurations it can carry compared to the TB2, which has a maximum takeoff weight of 750 kilograms and load capacity of 130 kilograms. In addition, the changes have included the installation of a new 172 HP PD170 engine manufactured locally by the TEI company, replacing the previous 100 HP Rotax 912.
Image: BAYKAR
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