Bayraktar TB3

Turkey's folding-wing, carrier-capable MALE UCAV - a Baykar strike and ISR drone designed for short-takeoff-and-landing operations from TCG Anadolu and other short-runway ships.

Overview

The Bayraktar TB3 is a recoverable, reusable medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned combat aerial vehicle developed by Baykar for land and naval operations. It extends the combat-proven Bayraktar TB2 lineage into a larger, folding-wing airframe with greater payload, longer endurance and short-runway ship compatibility. Baykar presents the type as a "Land and Marine" platform with 24+ hours endurance, 280 kg payload, six hardpoints and line-of-sight plus beyond-line-of-sight control options on its official TB3 product page.

The system's defining role is shipborne fixed-wing unmanned aviation. It was purpose-built around Turkey's TCG Anadolu amphibious assault ship, which Ankara has recast as a drone-capable carrier after the collapse of its F-35B path. In November 2024, TB3 conducted autonomous takeoff and landing from Anadolu without catapult or arresting gear, a milestone independently reported by The War Zone and Naval News.

Development

Baykar's leadership first described the TB3 concept publicly on 29 October 2020 as a carrier-operable UAV with folding wings and a mass around 1,200 kg, according to the compiled development chronology in Wikipedia's Bayraktar TB3 entry. Computer-generated images of TB3s aboard TCG Anadolu followed in July 2021, framing the aircraft as part of a broader Turkish naval aviation architecture that would later include the jet-powered Kizilelma.

The first prototype was publicly shown in March 2023. After taxi and high-speed ground tests in October 2023, the TB3 made its maiden flight on 27 October 2023 at Baykar's Çorlu Flight Training and Test Center, two days before Turkey's Republic centennial, as reported by The War Zone. The aircraft then expanded its envelope through a 32-hour endurance flight in December 2023, retracted-gear flight testing, and payload integration with Turkish sensors and weapons.

Naval qualification advanced through 2024. On 1 June 2024, the TB3 completed ski-jump takeoff trials from a land-based ramp at Keşan that replicated TCG Anadolu's 12-degree deck slope, with Naval News reporting four ramp launches and 395 hours 43 minutes of cumulative flight time by that point. On 25 June 2024, Baykar said the aircraft climbed to 36,310 ft using the indigenous PD-170 engine, exceeding the published 25,000 ft service ceiling in a test configuration, according to Baykar's altitude-test release.

The first shipboard sortie occurred on 19 November 2024 off Aksaz/Muğla. The TB3 launched from TCG Anadolu's ski jump, flew for 46 minutes, and recovered autonomously without catapult or arresting gear, according to Naval News and The War Zone. Baykar and Turkish media describe the event as a world first for a fixed-wing UCAV in this size class from an LHD-type ship; that framing is best treated as an attributed claim, while the deck operation itself is well corroborated.

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