This is how ANKA III made its first flight

ANKA III, an unmanned fighter jet developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. (TAI), successfully completed its first test flight today.

ANKA III, an unmanned fighter jet, successfully completed its first test flight. TAI shared the story of the first flight on its social media account.

Days before 2024, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on his social media account that the ANKA-III, developed by TAI, had successfully completed its first flight.

In his post, Erdoğan said, "God willing, our aircraft will make a very strong contribution to the defense of our country with its advanced technologies, design and features."

In the first test on December 28, 2023, ANKA III lasted 1 hour and 10 minutes. Reaching an altitude of 8 thousand feet, ANKA III accelerated to 150 knots. The ANKA III, which took off from the runway at 08:38, also performed the runway pass test during this flight. The flight of ANKA III was accompanied by the HÜRKUŞ basic training aircraft and ANKA unmanned aerial vehicle, developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries with domestic facilities.

"We have a UAV that the enemy cannot see, but sees the enemy"

Prof. Dr. Rafet Bozdoğan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of TAI, said that TAI had proven its existence and that they had passed another important milestone for Turkey.

Prof. Dr. Temel Kotil, General Manager of TAI, said: "Good luck. God bless our country, we now have a UAV in the sky that the enemy cannot see, but can see its enemy. May Allah bless you with good fortune."

Now we have a UAV in the sky that the enemy cannot see but sees the enemy

ANKA III, a new generation UAV system, will be able to perform many missions such as reconnaissance, surveillance and intelligence, attack with different air-ground munitions, hunting scanning by engaging enemy helicopters, propeller aircraft and UAVs with air-air munitions, neutralizing enemy RF emitting radar and air defense systems, protection of friendly forces in the air and on the ground, signal and communication intelligence, electronic warfare, operation with other friendly elements and communication relay.

1200 kilogram payload

The ANKA III system will be able to carry 650 kilograms of ammunition in each of the two stations in the fuselage, 650 kilograms in each of the inner wing stations and 100 kg in each of the outer stations. In this way, it will be possible to integrate a wide range of options, from the most commonly used ammunition in today's unmanned aerial vehicles to large ammunition such as SOM-J, MK-82 and bunker-busting bombs.

With a maximum cruise speed of 0.7 mach and an altitude base of 40,000 feet, ANKA III has a payload capacity of 1200 kilograms and a 10-hour endurance.