Flying wing Anka-3 will be a tanker UAV!

There are two different jet powered UAV systems developed in Turkey. One of them is Bayraktar Kızılelma, and the other is Anka-3, a flying wing designed unmanned aerial vehicle developed by Tusaş with domestic and national resources. Counting the days for its first flight, Anka-3 is expected to be capable of performing many missions. One of these capabilities is the tanker UAV mission. Let’s take a closer look at the subject.

Tanker UAV mission to Anka-3!

The jet-powered Anka-3 unmanned aerial vehicle, which Tusaş developed completely domestically and nationally with its flying wing design, will be used as a tanker UAV to refuel other aircraft in the air, as well as for various missions.

Tanker aircraft are special aircraft that can refuel other aircraft in need of fuel without landing on the ground, with a special connection system in the air. Aircraft currently used for refueling in the air in the world are generally tanker aircraft, which have been shaped as desired over passenger aircraft designs and gained the ability to carry and refuel fuel.

These planes are capable of carrying tons of fuel and refueling many planes in the air. However, due to their large size and traditional design, these planes can be easily detected by radars even from hundreds of miles away. This creates a significant disadvantage for aircraft during the mission.

For these reasons, UAV systems with less visibility to radar and superior flight capabilities, although they have less fuel carrying capacity, are perfect for this job. Anka-3, designed by Tusaş with the concept of flying wing, will have a very low radar visibility thanks to its advanced design and its fuselage with a minimum protrusion that appears as one piece. One of the advantages of the flying wing design is that the load carried is high thanks to the large area. Anka-3 has a maximum take-off weight of 6500 kg and a payload capacity of 1200 kg.

According to these values, we see that the fuel carrying capacity of Anka-3 and its systems that will serve as tanker aircraft is quite low compared to normal tanker aircraft. But as we mentioned, one of the most important issues is radar visibility. Although tanker drones do not carry tens of tons of fuel for now, they have the ability to provide the fuel they need to warplanes during their mission without being seen by radars.

America’s tanker UAV

The tanker UAV MQ-25 Stingray, developed by the well-established US aircraft manufacturer Boeing for air refueling missions, has a length of 15.5 meters, a wingspan of 22.9 meters (9.54 meters when folded) and a fuel carrying capacity of approximately 7200 kg.

Since it was designed to be used only as a tanker, it has larger dimensions and capacities compared to the Anka-3, which can also perform different tasks. It can also be used with the MQ-25 Stingray aircraft carrier.

We talked about Anka-3, its possible mission and tanker planes. You can share your thoughts and opinions on the subject with us in the comments.