TAI ANKA-3 Stealth UCAV | Specs, Updates & Discussion

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Turkey’s ANKA-3 Flying Wing Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle Flies

Turkey’s flying wing drone took to the air today in the latest milestone for the country’s burgeoning defense aerospace industry.
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"Exactly how successful the ANKA-3, or Turkey’s other advanced combat aircraft projects may turn out to be is a matter of conjecture. Each one comes with a plethora of inbuilt risks and there will very likely be some major hurdles ahead"
 
alberchico said:
www.thedrive.com

Turkey’s ANKA-3 Flying Wing Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle Flies

Turkey’s flying wing drone took to the air today in the latest milestone for the country’s burgeoning defense aerospace industry.
www.thedrive.com www.thedrive.com

"Exactly how successful the ANKA-3, or Turkey’s other advanced combat aircraft projects may turn out to be is a matter of conjecture. Each one comes with a plethora of inbuilt risks and there will very likely be some major hurdles ahead"
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Geez, the engineers must not have thought about this yet!

If they've spent an immense effort on this, wouldn't it be logical to think that they must've thought thousandfold more about this than us, right?


I mean c'mon, isn't designing any aircraft from scratch a risk in itself?!

I reckon they actually deserve a little bit of credit since they've so far managed to design, develop and then actually fly not just a jet powered drone but an aircraft that also happens to be a flying wing with LO characteristics.

Most of the times us ordinary enthusiasts and "defence experts" forget that these are not just some shiny RC toys to fly around, they are war machines meant to be serially produced.
 
Combat-Master said:
The test conducted by ANKA III equipped with an Aselsan Aselflir-500 Electro-Optical camera was carried out using the Teber-82 Guidance Kit developed by @roketsan .
https://twitter.com/x/status/1837028345483034686
View: https://x.com/TUSAS_TR/status/1837028345483034686
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Hydroman said:
Look at the two, split outboard surfaces on each wing tip, look familiar (hint: J-36).
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That's simply because this configuration is the most efficient way to use space on the Dorito-derivative designs, as physics is the same everywhere.
 

1750949925739.png Anka 3 UCAV Prototype Lost In Crash​

One of two prototypes of Turkish Aerospace Industries’ Anka 3 uncrewed combat air vehicle (UCAV) has been lost after crashing upon landing. The aircraft, in development for the Turkish Air Force, was participating in the International Anatolian Eagle exercises at Konya airbase in central Turkey.

from AW&ST, June 25, 2025
 
Accidents happen. They'll study what went wrong and make the necessary improvements. This program is too important for Turkey to cancel.

From Twitter: "
During the Anadolu Kartalı exercise, ANKA-3, which performed a flight, made an approach to the ground following a malfunction.To prevent damage, the aircraft was brought down in a controlled manner, resulting in damage to its landing gear and various components."

https://twitter.com/x/status/1938024694709367145
View: https://x.com/avionot/status/1938024694709367145


https://twitter.com/x/status/1937922850457010332
View: https://x.com/avionot/status/1937922850457010332
 
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Stargazer said:

View attachment 775975Anka 3 UCAV Prototype Lost In Crash​

One of two prototypes of Turkish Aerospace Industries’ Anka 3 uncrewed combat air vehicle (UCAV) has been lost after crashing upon landing. The aircraft, in development for the Turkish Air Force, was participating in the International Anatolian Eagle exercises at Konya airbase in central Turkey.

from AW&ST, June 25, 2025
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"Lost" might be too strong a word for me.

It's clear that the fuselage has largely survived, despite the significant damage to the fuselage, landing gear, and engine. While the damage is far from minor, I’m confident that Turkish Aerospace will salvage what’s functional and rebuild the aircraft.

Also, while this is purely speculative, the fact that it was a controlled descent suggests the incident was likely caused by an engine failure.
 
snne said:
"Lost" might be too strong a word for me.

It's clear that the fuselage has largely survived, despite the significant damage to the fuselage, landing gear, and engine. While the damage is far from minor, I’m confident that Turkish Aerospace will salvage what’s functional and rebuild the aircraft.

Also, while this is purely speculative, the fact that it was a controlled descent suggests the incident was likely caused by an engine failure.
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I don't think they would tbh, reason being there isn't anything on the aircraft that is specialty equipment, the aircraft mainly uses components from ANKA I and II, and they have plenty to fit on a new fuselage. IMO it's better for them to rebuild the fuselage as a show piece and tour it around tech/def shows within Turkey.

I agree with on the speculation, deffo something happened with the engine, I don't think it's the engine control equipment since TAI, like Baykar double or even triple redundant that stuff.
 
According to the GM of Turkish Aerospace, the production version of the Anka-3 featuring conformal arrays and a buried nozzle is going to emerge in late 2026.

Currently, Prototypes 3 and 4 are under production.
 
This news was missed with the hype surrounding Kizilelma, Prototype 1 air vehicle which crash landed due to engine malfunction was repaired and conducted autonomous flight tests.

ANKA-III has successfully passed another important milestone in its development process.
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Within the scope of system verification and identification test flights, ANKA-III completed its 46th sortie and also successfully concluded the critical autopilot tests.
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1997950020272742616
View: https://x.com/TUSAS_TR/status/1997950020272742616?s=20
 
Well hope they pump up that 333km/h speed a bit.
In broad daylight even a cross eyed gunner can shoot it out of the sky.
 
Turkish Aerospace GM Mehmet Demiroğlu:
- Anka-3 Critical Design Review finished 2 months ago and two prototypes to be built. Mass production studies have started based on this (new) design.

- Lots of foreign interest in Anka-3, wanting to co-produce it.

- 50 Anka-3 expected to be ordered this year by TurAF
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View: https://youtu.be/LzyzFgasi9c?si=0xLXB4VmF9yHDGwG
 
TUSAŞ General Manager Mehmet Demiroğlu announced:

Serial production work on the ANKA-3 will begin at the end of 2026.

The aircraft's more advanced updated design in terms of radar invisibility, with fewer protrusions, will make its first flight at the end of 2026.
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https://twitter.com/x/status/2039712290405077482
View: https://x.com/avionot/status/2039712290405077482?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2039712290405077482%7Ctwgr%5Eadc6bf7125f6650cd2498f6dd3b187a3eb777b1c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdefencehub.live%2Fthreads%2Fuav-ucav-programs-anka-series-kC4B1zC4B1lelma-tb-series.6%2Fpage-725
 

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