Baykar’s Bayraktar TB3 has achieved a key integration milestone by completing its first flight equipped with the homegrown ASELFLIR-500 electro-optical/infrared targeting system. The sortie took place at the AKINCI Flight Training and Test Center in Çorlu, Tekirdağ, demonstrating mature cooperation between Turkey’s air platform and sensor ecosystems. The successful pairing underscores the program’s goal of maximizing indigenous content while elevating reconnaissance, surveillance, and precision-targeting capabilities.

Designed for multi-mission employment, ASELFLIR-500 delivers high-resolution imaging, advanced target tracking, and stabilization features that are critical for day-night and adverse-weather operations. During the test, the payload not only operated seamlessly on the TB3 but also tracked a Bayraktar AKINCI high-altitude UCAV in flight—evidence of robust detection and tracking performance. This live demonstration validated the sensor’s reliability and its readiness to support complex, coordinated air operations.

The sortie was recorded as the TB3’s 25th test flight and lasted approximately six hours, offering ample time to verify platform-payload compatibility, data link stability, and image quality across flight regimes. Engineers assessed system behavior under real-world vibration, temperature, and maneuver loads—the most demanding environment for electro-optical payloads—and reported stable, consistent outputs throughout the profile. These findings reinforce the expectation that TB3 equipped with ASELFLIR-500 will deliver higher mission effectiveness in maritime surveillance, coastal security, and precision strike roles.

Beyond the technical achievement, the flight highlights Turkey’s broader push for self-reliant defense technologies. By integrating a domestically developed sensor suite on a domestically developed UCAV, program teams reduce supply-chain risk, shorten upgrade cycles, and retain control over software roadmaps and mission algorithms. As TB3 advances toward carrier-capable operations and expeditionary deployment, the ASELFLIR-500 pairing positions the system to meet demanding operational scenarios with a fully sovereign sensor stack.