The Bayraktar KIZILELMA Unmanned Fighter Aircraft, which marked the beginning of a new chapter in the history of global aviation, successfully completed its first firing test with an air-to-ground supersonic missile. During the test, which took place in Merzifon, KIZILELMA S2 successfully struck its target with the JET-230 supersonic missile under its wings.

Merzifon, Amasya 
13 July 2026

Baykar continues the development process of Türkiye's first-ever unmanned fighter aircraft, Bayraktar KIZILELMA, by integrating new capabilities. As part of ongoing work at the 5th Main Jet Base Command in Merzifon, Bayraktar KIZILELMA fired Roketsan's JET-230 missile for the first time.

FIRST FIRING WITH JET-230

Bayraktar KIZILELMA's serial production model with the tail number S2 departed the AKINCI Flight Training and Test Center in Çorlu, Tekirdağ for the 5th Main Jet Base Command in Merzifon on 8 July 2026 to carry out the firing test. Following a series of preparations and tests at the base, the unmanned fighter aircraft took off with two supersonic JET-230 missiles under its wings and headed toward the naval target to conduct the firing test. Bayraktar KIZILELMA subsequently fired its JET-230 missile from a distance of 120+ kilometers to strike its target precisely. As such, Türkiye's first unmanned fighter aircraft passed yet another major threshold to demonstrate its ability to conduct critical missions with air-to-ground supersonic munitions.

BAYRAKTAR: “YET ANOTHER MILESTONE HAS BEEN COMPLETED”

Baykar Chairman and CTO Selçuk Bayraktar, who personally led the test, congratulated the test team following the successful firing: "Yet another milestone has been completed. I wholeheartedly congratulate you, friends."
INTEGRATION OF INDIGENOUS MUNITIONS GAINS MOMENTUM
Bayraktar 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 now also successfully struck its target with the JET-230 supersonic missile, Bayraktar KIZILELMA is seeing the integration of indigenous munitions gain momentum. As a result, Türkiye's first unmanned fighter aircraft continues to increase its effectiveness against a range of different targets.

KIZILELMA'S FIRST AUTONOMOUS CLOSE-FORMATION FLIGHT
In a test conducted on December 27, 2025, Bayraktar KIZILELMA's third prototype, PT3, and fifth prototype, PT5, moved in coordination with one another thanks to intelligent fleet autonomy algorithms developed by the Baykar team, carrying out a formation flight (close-formation flight) with an autonomous combat pilot. As a result, for the first time in the history of global aviation, two unmanned fighter aircraft performed an autonomous close-formation flight.

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

EXPORT CHAMPION
Having self-financed all its projects since its founding, Baykar continued to be the world's largest exporter in the unmanned aerial vehicle segment in 2025. Maintaining its leadership in the global UCAV market over the past three years, Baykar broke its own record with an export volume of $2.2 billion in 2025. Deriving 90% of its revenue from exports in recent years, Baykar has become the driving force of Türkiye's high-technology exports.

BAYKAR: THE WORLD'S LARGEST UAV COMPANY
Having ranked among Türkiye's top 10 exporters across all sectors in 2023, 2024, and 2025 and received the Champions of Export Award, Baykar was the export leader of Türkiye's 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 went on to account for a 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 — 36 countries for the Bayraktar TB2 UCAV and 16 countries so far for the Bayraktar AKINCI UCAV.