Turkish Aerospace Industries has tested the latest TAI Anka-3 jet UAV. The video of the test was posted on Twitter by the account of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. During the first flight, Anka-3 spent 70 minutes in the air.

TUSAŞ tarafından geliştirilen insansız savaş uçağımız Anka III, bugün ilk uçuşunu başarıyla gerçekleştirdi. İnşallah uçağımız, sahip olduğu gelişmiş teknolojilerle, tasarımıyla ve özellikleriyle ülkemizin savunmasına çok güçlü bir katkı sağlayacak. 🇹🇷 pic.twitter.com/ElZaSoNRVo

— Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) December 28, 2023

“Our unmanned military aircraft Anka III, developed by TAI, has successfully completed its first flight today. We hope that our aircraft with its advanced technology, design and performance will make a significant contribution to the defense of our country,” – wrote the President of Turkey.

The Anka-3 has a flying wing design, a jet engine, internal payload compartments, and support for stealth technologies. In other words, it is a kind of a smaller unmanned copy of the Northrop B-2 Spirit.

The UAV has a maximum takeoff weight of 6.5 tons with a payload of 1,200 kg. Cruising speed is 460 km/h, maximum speed is 860 km/h or Mach 0.7. The operating ceiling is 12,000 meters. The range and duration of the Anka-3 flight are not disclosed.

The UAV has two internal payload compartments in the fuselage (650 kg) and one in the wings (650 kg), and can carry up to 100 kg on external suspensions. Most likely, it will be a Turkish-made missile and bomb load similar to that used by the Bayraktar TB2 – MAM-C and MAM-L smart bombs, L-UMTAS anti-tank missiles, Roketsan Cirit unguided missiles, TUBITAK-SAGE BOZOK and TUBITAK-SAGE TOGAN missiles. Theoretically, even the use of heavy weapons such as Roketsan SOM-J cruise missiles, Mk82 bombs, etc. is possible.

UAV development began in December 2022 and was completed in April 2023. Anka-3 made its first test flight.