Bayraktar TB3

The Bayraktar TB3 is the combat-proven airframe joint venture LBA Systems, owned by Italy's Leonardo and Turkey's Baykar, used as the base for its Astore Levante drone, unveiled at Farnborough on 22 July when the venture declared itself fully operational. Astore Levante mates the TB3 airframe with Leonardo's sensors, mission systems and ground control, and will be built through Leonardo's own production lines in Italy.

Baykar developed the TB3 as the successor to its TB2, the medium-altitude uncrewed combat aircraft that saw extensive service in Ukraine and established Baykar as a leading exporter of armed drones. The TB3 is a short-takeoff variant designed for operation from smaller decks, extending Baykar's carrier-capable reach beyond the land-based TB2.

Putting a Turkish airframe under a European industrial base is a distinct route to market. It hands Baykar's combat-proven design a Western manufacturing home and a PATH into NATO buyers Ankara struggles to reach alone, in contrast to the sovereign build-at-home approach Britain chose for its own combat drone programme.