Bayraktar TB3 is Baykar’s ship-capable armed UAV programme for vessels with short runways. It belongs to the company’s propeller-driven portfolio but is recorded separately from TB2. Its industrial profile includes naval adaptation, propulsion, sensors and support arrangements rather than only headline performance figures.[4]
An original company release documents PT-1 and PT-2 prototypes, a PD170-powered endurance test and an ASELFLIR-500 integration flight. These are explicit programme-level supplier relationships. They do not establish every future aircraft’s configuration, and supplier capabilities remain distinct from the aircraft’s formally accepted status.[28]
Published manufacturer figures describe the stated configuration. They are not independently verified performance results; variants and operating conditions can differ.
TEI’s V2025/2 brochure dates PD170 first flights on ANKA to 27 December 2018, AKSUNGUR to 4 October 2021 and TB3 to 27 October 2023. These are platform-specific engine milestones. They do not support treating PD170 as a verified fleet-wide TB2 replacement for Rotax.[222]
Documented recordReported test; not general service acceptance
Baykar dates TB3’s ASELFLIR-500 integration flight to 26 March 2024 and first MAM-T firing to 17 January 2025. A separate release reports MAM-L exercise firing from TCG ANADOLU on 14 February 2026. These are documented integration and exercise stages, not a single universal date of operational readiness.[242][243]
Baykar dates the first flight to 27 October 2023. Its April 2024 release retrospectively reports a 20 December 2023 endurance test and a 26 March 2024 sensor-integration flight. These milestones describe test progress rather than one date of operational readiness.[28]
A September 2026 release describes a flight from TCG Anadolu during a naval exercise. The live product page still uses development language. The catalogue records shipborne trials and exercise activity, requiring a separate acceptance source before presenting formal fleet entry as completed.[4][14]
Versions & programme scope
Baykar lists land and marine versions. Published maximum takeoff mass is explicitly qualified as potentially different for the naval version, so one universal mass is omitted here. The six displayed values preserve source units and separate published endurance from an individual test record.[4]
Agreement announced; completion not establishedDocumented record
Quantity not established by the selected evidence
Not established in selected sources
Republikorp describes the 2025 joint-venture agreement for local TB3 and AKINCI production. Industrial cooperation does not prove a completed assembly line or delivered fleet.[200]
Baykar described a TB3 flight from TCG Anadolu and a payload trial during Seawolf-I/2026. This is a manufacturer-reported exercise milestone, not independent proof of fleet-wide readiness.[14]
Technology and testing
TB3 MAM-L firing during NATO exercise
Baykar reports exercise firing from TCG ANADOLU, distinct from a general acceptance announcement.[243]
Export / overseas milestone
Baykar CEO describes Ukraine factory under construction
The Reuters interview describes an ongoing project and planned capacity; it is not a factory commissioning or production-start announcement.[209]