As you are probably aware by now, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have taken a significant spot in the limelight in recent years as a critical tool in military operations around the world. These remote aircraft, also known as drones, offer a range of advantages over traditional human-crewed aircraft, including greater flexibility, endurance, and cost-effectiveness. As a result, many countries have invested heavily in drone technology, seeking to develop increasingly advanced and sophisticated models that can support a range of military missions. From reconnaissance and surveillance to combat and logistics, drones have proven to be an increasingly valuable asset in modern warfare, and their use is likely to continue to grow in the years to come.

Turkey marks a new milestone as it successfully conducted the first tandem flight test of its state-of-the-art unmanned jet-engined “Kizilelma” combat aircraft and “Akinci” high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) drone.

Both drones were developed domestically by Baykar (officially Selçuk Bayraktar). They showcased an autonomous flight, each taking off at the Akinci Flight Training and Test Center near the capital city before assembling in a close formation and together navigating through the airspace of the Çorlu district.

The milestone indicated significant progress in Ankara’s quest to seek capable unmanned drones that can reliably provide combat support to its Turkish military in future operations.

Homegrown Turkish Drones

Turkey has been actively pursuing the development of sophisticated military drones in a collaborative effort between Baykar and the Turkish government in recent years and has achieved significant success in this field. Driven by a desire to increase its armed forces fighting and defense capabilities, Ankara also strives to reduce its reliance on foreign suppliers, particularly now more than ever, in light of ongoing arms struggles in Ukraine and Russian aggression.