Bayraktar TB3 makes its debut at TEKNOFEST

Baykar's domestically and indigenously developed Bayraktar TB3 Armed Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (AUAV) will be displayed to the public for the first time at TEKNOFEST 2023, taking place at Istanbul Atatürk Airport between 27 April and 1 May. According to a Baykar statement, the Bayraktar TB3 AUAV seen on the production line in photographs taken during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to the Özdemir Bayraktar National Technology Center yesterday will begin flight tests later this year. Baykar Board Chairman Selçuk Bayraktar and Baykar General Director Haluk Bayraktar provided updates on national projects during President Erdoğan's visit. Turkey's first unmanned combat aircraft, Bayraktar KIZILELMA, first appeared before the public at TEKNOFEST Black Sea on 30 August 2022 and conducted its maiden flight on 14 December 2022. The Bayraktar TB3 AUAV, which will be the world's first armed unmanned aerial vehicle capable of take-off and landing from short-deck vessels, will be displayed to the public for the first time at TEKNOFEST 2023, to be held at Atatürk Airport in Istanbul between 27 April and 1 May, marking the centenary of the Turkish Republic. Developed domestically and indigenously by Baykar, the Bayraktar TB3 AUAV, with its foldable wing structure, will be the world's first armed unmanned aerial vehicle capable of take-off and landing from short-deck vessels such as TCG Anadolu. The capabilities of the Bayraktar TB3 will represent a significant innovation in this class of unmanned aerial vehicles. The Bayraktar TB3 will also feature beyond-line-of-sight communication capability, enabling it to be controlled from very long distances. In this way, it will perform reconnaissance-surveillance, intelligence and strike missions with its smart munitions against overseas targets, multiplying Turkey's deterrent capacity. Following a competitive process, Baykar outpaced American, European and Chinese competitors and entered 2023 with an agreement signed with Kuwait's Defense Ministry, along with a USD 370 million export contract for the Bayraktar TB2. From its inception, Baykar has funded all its projects from its own resources, deriving 75% of its total revenue from exports since the beginning of the AUAV R&D process in 2003. In 2021, the company became the export leader in Turkey's defense and aviation sector according to Turkish Exporters Council (TİM) data. With an export rate of 99.3% in contracts signed in 2022, Baykar conducted USD 1.18 billion in exports. Baykar, the defense and aviation sector's leading exporter, reached a 2022 turnover of USD 1.4 billion. Export agreements have been signed with 28 countries for the Bayraktar TB2 AUAV and with 6 countries for the Bayraktar AKINCI AUAV.   Source