Bayraktar KIZILELMA Programme

Current status

Bayraktar KIZILELMA is Türkiye’s indigenous jet-powered unmanned fighter aircraft developed by Baykar within the country’s broader unmanned combat-aircraft effort. The programme has moved beyond basic flight development into weapons, sensor and collaborative combat-air integration.

Baykar’s current production-standard S2 aircraft completed its first live firings from the internal weapons bay in July 2026, using TEBER-82 and TOLUN munitions. Earlier in July, KIZILELMA also conducted its first firing with the JET-230 air-to-surface supersonic missile. The aircraft is additionally being used in collaborative combat-air trials, including autonomous formation activity with Leonardo M-346 aircraft under the K-SWARM programme.

Why it matters

KIZILELMA represents a shift in Türkiye’s unmanned aviation strategy from long-endurance ISR and strike UAVs toward fighter-class uncrewed combat aircraft.

The programme connects low-observable airframe design, AESA radar, indigenous air-to-air weapons, stand-off strike systems, artificial intelligence and crewed-uncrewed teaming. It could therefore become one of the principal uncrewed nodes supporting Türkiye’s future KAAN-centred air-combat architecture.

Key facts

Programme

Unmanned Fighter Aircraft / Bayraktar KIZILELMA

Programme authority

Secretariat of Defence Industries / national unmanned combat-aircraft framework

Industrial developer

Baykar

Current phase

Flight, weapons and mission-system maturation / production-standard aircraft testing

Core roles

Air-to-air combat, strike, ISR and collaborative combat air

Industrial focus

Sensors, autonomy, weapons integration and sovereign mission systems

What we track

Flight-test and configuration development

Prototype and production-standard aircraft development, propulsion configurations and flight-envelope expansion.

Weapons and sensors

AESA radar, IRST, indigenous air-to-air missiles, stand-off weapons and internal weapons-bay integration.

Autonomy and crewed-uncrewed teaming

Formation flight, cooperative engagement, K-SWARM and future integration with crewed fighters.

Production and export

Serial-production milestones, operational deliveries, international agreements and localisation.

Primary sources

The factual fields on this page are refreshed from primary sources, not from our own archive: past coverage provides context, but it is not the source of truth for current programme status. How we source and verify is set out in our Sourcing Policy.