SummaryThe use of unmanned aerial vehicles has significantly increased for forming an ad hoc network owing to their ability to perform in exciting environment such as armed attacks, border surveillance, disaster management, rescue operation, and transportation. Such types of ad hoc networks are popularly known as flying ad hoc networks (FANETs). The FANET nodes have 2 prominent characteristics—collaboration and cooperation. Trust plays an important role in predicting the behavior of such nodes. Researchers have proposed various methods (direct and indirect) for calculation of the trust value of a given node in ad hoc networks, especially in mobile ad hoc networks and vehicular ad hoc networks. The major characteristic that differentiates a FANET from other ad hoc networks is the velocity of the node; as a result, there are frequent losses in connection and topology change. Therefore, the existing methods of trust calculation are not efficient and effective. In this paper, a fuzzy‐based novel trust model has been proposed to handle the behavioral uncertainty of FANET nodes. Nodes are classified using a multicriteria fuzzy classification method based on node's behavior and performance in the fuzzy and complex environment. Quality of service and social parameter (recommendation) are considered for evaluating the trust value of each node to segregate the selfish and malicious nodes. With the node classification, FANET nodes are rewarded or punished to transform node behavior into a trust value. Compared with the existing trust techniques, the simulation results show that the proposed model has better adaptability, accuracy, and performance in FANETs.