Click to see full-size photo. By Oğuz Yeter / Anadolu Agency.
A prototype of the Bayraktar TB3 combat drone was displayed to the public for the first time at the Teknofest 2023 exhibition, which was held in the Turkish city of Istanbul from April 27 to May 1.
Turkey’s leading drone manufacturer Baykar began developing the TB3, a larger modified version of the Bayraktar TB2, in 2021 for use onboard the Turkish Navy’s amphibious assault ship TCG Anadolu. The drone, which has a length of 8.35 meter, a height of 2.6 meter, a wingspan of 14 meter, features foldable wings and retractable landing gear for that purpose.
According to the initial plans TCG Anadolu was expected to be equipped with Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II fighter jets but following the removal of Turkey from the procurement program by the United States, the ship entered a modification process to allow it to be able to accommodate drones.
TCG Anadolu, which was commissioned last April, will reportedly be able to carry as many as 30 to 50 Bayraktar TB3 combat drones.
The TB3 can carry a payload of 280 kilograms and is equipped with six hardpoints. The combat drone can be armed with a variety of precision-guided munitions.
The maximum speed of the drone is 150 knots and the cruise speed is 125 knots. The maximum altitude is 30,000 feet, while its maximum mission radius is 2,200 kilometers at 20,000 feet.
The TB3 will be equipped with the CATS, an electro-optical reconnaissance, surveillance and targeting system designed by Turkey’s Aselsan. Other payloads, including a multi mode active electronically scanned array radar, are reportedly being developed.
In the last few years, Turkey became one of the world’s key developers and manufacturers of reconnaissance and combat drones. Ankara is now developing more advanced drones, with the aim of strengthening its military capabilities as well as its defense exports.
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Meh, they will lose it in other nations, Bayraktar is cheap unlike other drones it costs around 5 Million dollars per unit, however due to its combat lack of capabilities it was easy to shoot down 100 of them in Ukraine and a few others in Libya and possibly Syria.
Is all sales hype. The Bayraktar’s core electronic components are just bought-in, off the shelf items, from western countries like Canada. It’s nothing special, it’s just foreign parts assembled and packaged into a locally made fuselage in Turkey. Many countries are now working on own drones that will be more or less of the same performance envelope. Iranian drones are superior in cost and performance benefit analysis, but obviously their international sales potential is heavily restricted due to sanctions of ongoing US economic blockade.
These drones were helpful in Libya, Syria, Ethiopia and Azerbaijan but not really helpful in Ukraine. We Greeks should ally with China and India in order to stop their ambitions.
The US is using Azerbaijan as a proxy tool to antagonize Iran. Usual US geostrategic great game-chessboard mindset, that is totally stuck in 1970’s era of Zbigniew Brzezinski. Who argued Iran, and Ukraine, were key strategic crossroads for respective continental control of central Asia and central Europe. And where do we see US sticking its nose and stoking same old proxy wars today?!
Iran abandoned Armenia though. Now they support “the sovereignty of Azerbaijan”.
So we won. WTF, not yet?! How? Our soldiers are cheap, there are many and nobody misses them. That’s what our supreme leader says.. So?
The Bayraktar moment has passed. It was heavily marketed and hyped by Turks, courtesy of its use in surprise attacks, for Azerbaijan, against Armenia. Then, the Turk’s marketing hype switched to a new theater, in Ukraine. That was until a few months into conflict, and dozens of Bayraktars got smashed in matter of weeks. This tale of the ‘wunder-weapon’ was just another moment of strategic and hyped PR marketing. In reality, the Bayraktar is not an offensive combat weapon, it is large and slow, an easy shoot down for even oldest generation of TOR or BUK launchers. When exposed to an environment of advanced level aerial conflict (area denial), it was quickly apparent the Bayraktar is a behind the lines observation and target of opportunity weapon at best. As for the Bayraktar’s biggest hype moment, it was simply the case that Armenia was woefully unprepared for any serious confrontation, having lacked real investment in sufficient combined arms and aerial defense systems.
It was helpful in Ethiopia against the TPLF for example.
Not exactly an ‘environment of advanced level aerial conflict (area denial)’. So basically Bayratar is useful in developing world conflicts where there is very low level of aerial defense…meaning no surface to air weapons.
That’s correct
Turecko pracuje na vylepšení. Zrejme mu v tom pomohlo to, že zopár predchodcov predal na Ukrajinu. Tam si ho vyskúšal a odhalil chyby ktoré mal a teraz pracuje už iba na jeho vylepšení. Je to logické.