The Chief Technology Officer of Baykar Co., Selcuk Bayraktar confirmed that the MIUS will be operated on LHD Anadolu.
“MIUS will operate at a cruising speed close to the speed of sound; the further prototypes will fly at the supersonic speed. It will have a payload of around 1500 kilograms. It will be able to deploy air-to-air, air-to-ground missiles and cruise missiles.”
Mr. Bayraktar
“Unlike other prototypes developed in this field in the world, the most important aspect is that it can land and take off from carriers. MIUS will be able to land and take off from short-runway carriers like LHD Anadolu. It will be able to take off without the help of a catapult and land on the ship with a hook system.” Selcuk Bayraktar highlighted.
As Naval News reported in March 2021, the Turkish government decided to transform the future LHD Anadolu into a carrier ship for attack drones. Turkey’s Defence Industry Chief Ismail Demir stated that Anadolu will be capable to deploy between 30 or 50 Bayraktar TB-3 drones. He also said that at least ten armed drones could be simultaneously used in operations and integrated into a command-and-control center on the ship.
Following the announcement, Bayraktar’s CEO shared a concept image depicting how LHD Anadolu launches fixed-wing drones. While it was clearly understood that the LHD would launch drones using a roller system located at the ship’s bow part, it was unclear how the ship would recover the drones. Selcuk Bayraktar clarified this issue in his video that they plan to catch the drones with a hook system.
One day after the announcement, Baykar released another rendering showing the MIUS and TB-3 Bayraktar drones working together onboard the LHD Anadolu.
“Bayraktar TB3 and MIUS will operate together at TCG ANADOLU for the safety of our Blue Homeland.” Baykar Defense tweeted.
The Turkish Navy expects to commission LHD Anadolu in 2022. MIUS’s prototype is set to take to the skies for the first time in 2023. Despite the fact that MIUS and TB-3 are intended to operate together on Anadolu, it seems like that Turkey’s LHD will only deploy TB-3 drones as fixed-wing air assets in the first years of her service. After the U.S. removed Turkey from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Project due to Turkey’s S-400 air-defense system procurement from Russia, the Turkish Defence Industry has been working to provide fixed-winged aircraft capability to its future LHD. MIUS is the third air asset declared to operate onboard Anadolu. After the first announcement to deploy TB-3 drones on Anadolu, Turkish Aerospace Industries promulgated their work to deploy indigenous jet trainer aircraft “HURJET” on the LHD.
