Turkish unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) manufacturer Baykar has claimed a landmark in naval aviation history with one of its Bayraktar TB3s becoming the first UAV of its class to take off from and then land back onto a short-runway vessel.
The flight test took place on 19 November 2024 off the Turkish amphibious assault ship TCG Anadolu, which is 231 m long and features a 202.3 × 32 m flight deck.
Initial land-based trials at Baykar’s Flight Training and Test Center in Keşan, Edirne, led to a Bayraktar TB3 completing a first successful ‘ski-jump’ test on 1 June 2024. The facility in Keşan features a 12-degree ramp, identical to the one on TCG Anadolu’s main deck.
Two Bayraktar TB3s, PT1 and PT2, were then deployed from Keşan to Dalaman Air Base Command on Turkey’s southwestern, Mediterranean coast for the seaborne trials. During their operations Bayraktar TB3 PT1 carried out day and night flights to TCG Anadolu, successfully completing approach tests.
Then, on 19 November, Bayraktar TB3 PT2, after completing open-sea shipboard tests, took off from the runway of TCG Anadolu, using its ramp. The UAV’s flight, conducted at the convergence of the Aegean and Mediterranean seas, lasted for 46 minutes before the aircraft successfully landed back on TCG Anadolu without the need for any arresting equipment.
Thus, the Bayraktar TB3, which is is 8.35 m long with a 14 m wingspan, can be claimed by Baykar to be the first fixed-wing UAV in its class to perform both a take-off and landing from a short-runway vessel.
On 12 November 2024 a General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) Gray Eagle STOL UAV, which is 9 m long with a 16 m wingspan, performed a take-off from the Republic of Korea Navy amphibious assault ship ROKS Dokdo, which is shorter than TCG Anadolu at 199.4 m long.
The UAV then flew twice along its port side to perform a “simulated landing procedure” before proceeding to the Naval Air Command in Pohang, where it landed on the runway there.
