Turkey’s globally-lauded Bayraktar drone sets new aviation record, again

Turkey's globally lauded Bayraktar TB2 drone set a new national aviation record by successfully completing 400,000 hours of operational flight hours, Turkish drone maker Baykar said on Friday.

"The #BayraktarTB2 fleet broke its own national aviation record AGAIN!," Selcuk Bayraktar,  Baykar’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), said on his Twitter account, retweeting the company’s recent post.

Developed and produced locally, the cutting-edge unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), Bayraktar TB-2, has reached a milestone as the first indigenous aerial vehicle to record such extensive flight time in the country’s aviation history.

Bayraktar TB-2 is a medium altitude long endurance (MALE) and a tactical unmanned aerial vehicle capable of conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as armed attack missions, according to the company’s website.

The entire system is produced domestically thanks to Baykar's technological accumulation and capabilities, while Bayraktar TB-2 is also the first-ever aircraft in its category to be exported.

An onboard avionic suite with a triple-redundant avionic system encompasses units, enabling a fully autonomous taxiing, takeoff, landing and cruise.

Since 2014, it has successfully been carrying out missions within the Turkish Armed Forces, gendarme and police.