Bayraktar TB3 UAV reached an altitude of 36,000 feet with a domestic engine

The national UAV Bayraktar TB3, with its domestic engine, reached an altitude of 36,310 feet in the High Altitude System Identification and Performance Test successfully conducted in Keşan.

The test process of the armed unmanned aerial vehicle Bayraktar TB3, developed nationally and originally by Baykar, continues successfully. After its first flight on October 27, 2023, as a gift for the 100th anniversary of the Republic, the national UAV successfully conducted system identification and performance tests at various altitudes and further advanced its success by reaching its highest altitude.

Reaching the summit with a domestic engine
The Bayraktar TB3 UAV successfully completed the High Altitude System Performance Test by climbing to an altitude of 36,310 feet in the flight conducted at the Baykar Flight Training and Test Center in Keşan, Edirne. Taking off with the domestic PD-170 engine developed by TEI, the national UAV thus passed another critical threshold. The altitude record in our national aviation history is held by the Baykar-developed Bayraktar AKINCI TİHA with 45,118 feet.

Taking off from a similar ramp to TCG Anadolu
The Bayraktar TB3 UAV took off from a ramp for the first time on June 1, 2024, during the tests that started in Tekirdağ Çorlu and continued at the Baykar Flight Training and Test Center in Keşan, Edirne. A ramp with a 12-degree incline, similar to the conditions on the deck of TCG Anadolu where the Bayraktar TB3 will be deployed in Keşan, was built. Progressing successfully in the test campaign, the Bayraktar TB3 is getting closer to boarding the ship with successful ramp tests.

Total flight time reached 445 hours
The Bayraktar TB3 UAV has remained airborne for a total of 445 hours and 3 minutes during the test flights conducted to date. The national UAV stayed in the air for 32 hours without landing during the long-distance test conducted on December 20, 2023, covering a distance of 5,700 km in the sky.

National UAV, national camera
The Bayraktar TB3 UAV flew for the first time with the ASELFLIR-500, developed nationally by Aselsan, on March 26, 2024. Within the scope of the conducted test, the integration of the ASELFLIR-500 Electro-Optical Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Targeting System, which has the highest performance compared to its counterparts worldwide, was successfully achieved.

First Flight from TCG Anadolu in 2024
With its foldable wing structure, the Bayraktar TB3 UAV will be the world’s first armed unmanned aerial vehicle capable of taking off and landing from short runways like TCG Anadolu. Selçuk Bayraktar, Chairman of the Board and Technology Leader of Baykar, announced that they plan to start tests with the Bayraktar TB3 on the TCG Anadolu ship in 2024. The capabilities of the Bayraktar TB3 will be a significant innovation in unmanned aerial vehicles in this class. Featuring beyond-line-of-sight communication capability, the national UAV will be controllable from very long distances. Thus, by performing reconnaissance-surveillance, intelligence, and attack missions against overseas targets with its smart ammunition, it will have a multiplier effect on Turkey’s deterrent power.

Export Champion
Baykar, conducting all its projects with its own resources from the beginning, has obtained 83% of its total revenue from exports since the beginning of the UAV R&D process in 2003. Having realized $1.8 billion in exports in 2023, Baykar ranked among the top 10 companies that achieve the highest exports in all sectors in our country. Baykar, which received the Export Champions Award, was the export leader in the defense and aerospace sector according to data from the Presidency of Defense Industries and the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) in 2021, 2022, and 2023. Baykar, which has obtained more than 90% of its revenues from exports in recent years, accounted for one-third of the defense and aerospace sector’s exports alone in 2023. Being the world’s largest UAV exporter, Baykar has conducted 97.5% of its signed contracts based on exports. Export agreements have been signed with 33 countries for the Bayraktar TB2 UAV and with 9 countries for the Bayraktar AKINCI TİHA, totaling 34 countries so far.