Third Prototype of Turkey’s Akinci Combat Drone Makes First Flight

The third prototype of Turkey’s Akinci combat drone, Akinci PT-3, took off on its maiden flight last week.

“We could not hold the PT-3 any longer. It successfully completed its first flight today,” Selçuk Bayraktar, the chief technology officer (CTO) of Baykar, tweeted Saturday.

First prototype of the drone made its maiden flight in December 2019- it flew for 16 minutes after take-off. Prior to this, the Akinci had undergone final ground tests which consisted of short sprints down the runway.

Second prototype of Turkey’s Akinci combat drone took to the skies for the first time around mid-August 2020.

AKINCI Combat UAV

Baykar started to work to develop the Akinci in May 2017.

The Akinci belongs to a new class of “heavy” drones. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has a wingspan of 20m, and is powered by two Ukrainian AI-450 turboprop engines.

The drone is capable of conducting operations that are being done with fighter jets. It carries electronic support systems, dual satellite communication systems, air-to-air radar, collision avoidance radar and synthetic aperture radar. The Akinci can also be used in air-to-ground and air-to air attack missions.

The UAV will be equipped with multifunction AESA Radar system for air-to-air, synthetic, meteorology estimation.

The drone can be armed with Mini Smart Munition MAM-L, Mini Smart Munition MAM – C, Cirit Missile, L-UMTAS Missile, Mini Smart Munition Bozok, MK-81, MK-82, MK-83 Guided Bombs (JDAM), Wing Assisted Guided Bomb MK-82, Gokdogan and Bozdogan air-to-air missiles, and Stand Off Missile SOM-A.

Baykar claims that the Akinci is equipped with dual artificial intelligence (AI) avionics which supports for signal processing, sensor fusion and situational awareness in real time.