Türkiye demonstrates carrier-capable Bayraktar TB3 drone launches from TCG Anadolu.

Two Bayraktar TB3 drones launched from Türkiye’s flagship TCG Anadolu and struck targets with Roketsan munitions during the Sea Wolf-I 2025 exercise off Antalya. The demonstration marked a milestone in Türkiye’s growing carrier-capable drone program and its broader push for indigenous naval power projection.

According to information published by the Turkish Ministry of Defense, on October 9, 2025, two Bayraktar TB3 carrier-capable drones launched from the Turkish Navy’s flagship TCG Anadolu and prosecuted targets with Roketsan MAM-L and MAM-T munitions during the Sea Wolf-I 2025 exercise off Antalya, while a Bayraktar Akinci operating from Northern Cyprus struck three additional targets with TOLUN, TEBER-82 and the KEMANKES-1 mini cruise missile. Senior commanders used Distinguished Observer Day to underscore an expanding naval aviation concept built around uncrewed systems and a growing indigenous shipbuilding program. The Navy said 92 warships, 66 air assets and roughly 16,900 personnel participated across the Black Sea, Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean.
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A Bayraktar TB3 unmanned combat drone takes off from the Turkish Navy’s flagship TCG Anadolu during the Sea Wolf-I 2025 exercise, launching precision strikes with Roketsan MAM munitions as part of Türkiye’s growing carrier-based UAV capability (Picture source: Turkish Ministry of Defense).

The TB3 is the first Turkish UCAV designed for routine deck operations from short-runway vessels. Baykar’s data lists a 14-meter wingspan, 8.35-meter length, 21-plus hours endurance, 280-kilogram payload and maximum takeoff weight of about 1,600 kilograms. Folding wings and reinforced landing gear support cyclic deck ops on Anadolu, while six hardpoints accept laser-guided weapons, including the MAM family. The MAM-L weighs roughly 22 kilograms with a 15-kilometer envelope, while the heavier 95-kilogram MAM-T extends reach beyond 30 kilometers from UAVs and delivers greater terminal effects through larger warheads and proximity fuzing. These profiles align with the observed dual‐salvo MAM-L shot by TB3 PT-1R and the follow-on MAM-T strike by TB3 PT-4 reported from the drill.

Running in parallel, the twin-engine Akinci high-altitude UCAV provides the heavy punch and sensor reach. Baykar’s official specifications highlight 24-plus hours of endurance, operations up to 40,000 feet, line-of-sight and satellite communications, and an advertised 6,000-kilometer operational range. Its demonstrated integration of the TOLUN glide bomb, the winged TEBER-82 guidance kit and Baykar’s jet-powered KEMANKES-1 brings a layered mix of precision effects. Company materials describe KEMANKES-1 with a datalink and an operational range on the order of 100 kilometers, allowing standoff engagements and loiter against time-sensitive targets. The Sea Wolf-I vignette, in which Akinci sequenced three different weapons, showcases a munitions ecosystem now maturing across Turkish uncrewed platforms.

From a tactics and operations standpoint, Anadolu teamed with TB3s change the geometry for regional maritime security. Carrier-based UCAVs can expand the scouting and strike envelope hundreds of nautical miles from the task group, cueing surface combatants or finishing targets themselves with low-cost precision munitions. Pairing TB3 deck launches for near-to-mid-range work with Akinci’s higher-altitude standoff profile creates overlapping effects chains that complicate adversary air defenses and enable persistent ISR-strike cycles. Earlier iterations of Denizkurdu 2025 already validated deck takeoffs and live weapon releases, and this week’s massed participation across three seas suggests the Navy is institutionalizing TTPs for mixed uncrewed and manned aviation in distributed maritime operations.

Sea Wolf-I lands at a moment when Ankara is signaling an intent to project credible naval power from the Black Sea to the Levant. The exercise narrative links combat-credible drones with a shipbuilding pipeline that includes frigates, destroyers, a next-generation submarine and even a national aircraft carrier program known as MUGEM. For neighbors and NATO allies, the message is clear: Türkiye aims to field a domestically supplied, networked fleet centered on uncrewed air and maritime systems to maintain freedom of action in the Eastern Mediterranean and beyond. The scale of the drill, the commanders’ remarks on new tactics with drones, and the recent carrier program update reinforce that trajectory and will shape procurement and counter-UAS planning across the region.