Ushering in a new era in the history of world aviation, the KIZILELMA Unmanned Fighter Aircraft has successfully completed its first firing tests from its internal weapons bay. In tests conducted in Çorlu, KIZILELMA scored direct hits on designated targets using TEBER-82 and TOLUN munitions carried in its internal bay.

TEKİRDAĞ / ÇORLU
30 JULY 2026

The development of Türkiye's first unmanned fighter aircraft, KIZILELMA, continues with the integration of new capabilities. As part of work carried out at the Çorlu Flight Training and Test Center in Tekirdağ, KIZILELMA carried out live firings for the first time using munitions loaded in its internal weapons bay.

FIRST FIRING FROM THE INTERNAL WEAPONS BAY
Indigenously developed by Baykar, KIZILELMA's serial production model, tail number S2, first successfully completed firing tests on Saturday, 25 July, using a ROKETSAN-produced TEBER-82 carried in its internal weapon station, followed on Tuesday, 28 July, by tests using an ASELSAN-produced TOLUN munition. During the tests, KIZILELMA took off from Çorlu, proceeded to the target area, and fired the munitions from its internal bay, scoring direct hits on the designated targets. In doing so, Türkiye's first unmanned fighter aircraft advanced its capability to conduct precision strikes on strategic missions while maintaining a low radar signature.

LOW RADAR SIGNATURE
Thanks to its internal weapons bay, KIZILELMA will be able to penetrate deep into hostile territory and strike using indigenous munitions while maintaining a low radar signature. Carrying munitions within its fuselage reduces its radar cross-section while preserving its high speed and aerodynamic efficiency, enabling KIZILELMA to carry out strategic missions more effectively in areas with dense air defense coverage.

MOMENTUM BUILDS IN THE INTEGRATION OF INDIGENOUS MUNITIONS
KIZILELMA has previously completed successful firing tests with the GÖKDOĞAN air-to-air missile, as well as TOLUN, TEBER-82 KGK, and LGK-82 munitions. Having also successfully struck its target with the JET-230 supersonic missile, KIZILELMA is now seeing accelerated integration of indigenous munitions. As a result, Türkiye's first unmanned fighter aircraft continues to expand its effectiveness against a growing range of targets.

KIZILELMA'S FIRST AUTONOMOUS CLOSE-FORMATION FLIGHT
In a test conducted on 27 December 2025, KIZILELMA's third and fifth prototypes, PT3 and PT5, flew in coordinated formation using autonomous fleet algorithms developed by the Baykar team, executing a formation flight (wingman flight) with an autonomous combat pilot. This marked the first time in the history of world aviation that two unmanned fighter aircraft carried out an autonomous close-formation flight.

A FIRST IN AVIATION HISTORY: AIR-TO-AIR FIRING
KIZILELMA made history in world aviation in a test conducted on 29 November 2025. In the historic test carried out off the coast of Sinop, KIZILELMA scored a direct hit on a target aircraft designated by the ASELSAN-made MURAD AESA Radar, using the GÖKDOĞAN missile developed by TÜBİTAK SAGE — becoming the world's first unmanned fighter aircraft to destroy a jet-powered aerial target using a beyond-visual-range (BVR) air-to-air missile.

EXPORT CHAMPION
Having self-financed all of its projects from the outset, Baykar continued in 2025 to be the world's largest exporter in the unmanned aerial vehicle segment. Having maintained its leadership in the global UCAV market over the past three years, Baykar set a new record in 2025 with export volume reaching $2.2 billion. Having generated 90% of its revenue from exports in recent years, Baykar has become the driving force behind Türkiye's high-technology exports.

BAYKAR: THE WORLD'S LARGEST UAV COMPANY
Ranking among Türkiye's top 10 exporters across all sectors and receiving the Champions of Export Award in 2023, 2024, and 2025, Baykar was also the export leader of the defense and aerospace sector in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, according to data from the Defense Industry Agency (SSB) and the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM). Having single-handedly accounted for one-third of the sector's exports in 2023, Baykar again accounted for one-quarter of the defense and aerospace sector's total exports in 2024, propelling Türkiye to a leading position in the global UCAV export market. As the world's largest unmanned aerial vehicle company, Baykar has signed export agreements with a total of 39 countries to date — 36 countries for the Bayraktar TB2 UCAV and 16 countries for the AKINCI UCAV.