Bayraktar TB3 conducts AI-powered takeoff and landing on short-runway carrier

ISTANBUL

Türkiye's brand-new locally designed and produced unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), Bayraktar TB3, has reached another significant milestone in its testing on the TCG Anadolu short-runway carrier, surpassing 100 sorties.

The tests of Bayraktar TB3, the first UCAV in the history of world aviation that can take off and land fully autonomously from a ship with a short runway, were successfully carried out on TCG Anadolu, the drone's maker Baykar said in a statement.

In the latest tests conducted between May 28 and June 2, Bayraktar TB3's fully automatic take-off and landing capability, supported by image-based artificial intelligence (AI), was also tested.

Important capabilities, such as visual line tracking, aircraft carrier detection, runway detection and landing angle estimation using ground vision, were successfully tested.

With the latest tests, Bayraktar TB3 UCAV surpassed the 100 threshold and reached 101 sorties.

The national UCAV stayed in the air for a total of 1,167 hours and 8 minutes during its sorties on the ship.

The number of sorties within the scope of the general test program reached 709. During the long flight test on Dec. 20, 2023, the UCAV flew for 32 hours without interruption and covered 5,700 kilometers.

Baykar became the export leader of the defense and aerospace sector in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

The drone maker, the largest company in the world's UAV export market, realized sales of $1.8 billion in 2024, generating 90 percent of its revenues from exports.