Turkey's unmanned aircraft Kizilelma scripts history, knocks down aerial target using radar-guided air-to-air missile

Turkey's fighter aircraft Kizilelma is in the limelight after the unmanned jet accurately targeted a jet-powered aerial target using an air-to-air missile. Guided my radar information during trials in the Sinop firing area, the fighter jet completed this manoeuvre successfully. It achieved this groundbreaking milestone and became the world’s first unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) to launch and hit a jet-powered target

Scripting history in the world of global combat aviation, the fighter jet knocked down a jet-powered aerial target. Kizilelma fighter jet features Aselsan's Murad Aesa radar with a Beyond Visual Range air-to-air Gokdogan missile, Clash report stated.

Watch Kizilelma taking its groundbreaking flight and writing global combat aviation history:

Private Turkish defence company Baykar, which specialises in UAVs, C4I and artificial intelligence, conducted the pilot test on 30 November. The Kizilelma aircraft flew with five F-15 fighter jets from Merzifon’s 5th Main Jet Base as the launched Gokdogan missile directly hit the target drone.

Marking a landmark moment in global combat aviation, the Murad Aesa radar played a key role in the first fully radar-to-missile engagement cycle from a UAV. The Gokdogan missile is placed under the aircrafts wing for a precise shootout.

In a post on Turkish social media platform NSocial, the company said, “For the first time in the world, an unmanned combat aircraft struck its target with a BVR air-to-air missile.”

In a video message to celebrate the occasion, Baykar's chair and chief technology officer, Selçuk Bayraktar said, "Today, we have opened doors to a new era in aviation history," adding he said, "For the first time in the world, an unmanned combat aircraft fired an air-to-air missile with radar guidance and hit an aerial target with perfect accuracy," Daily Sabah reported.

More about Kizilelma

The Bayraktar Kizilelma is a single-engine, low-observable, carrier-capable aircraft that is being developed as part of Turkish Muharip İnsansız Uçak Sistemi (MIUS) project. Bayraktar, renowned for its drones mainly Bayraktar TB2, developed its flagship aircraft Kizilelma. Kizilelma is equipped with low radar cross-section and advanced sensors which enable it to detect enemy aircraft from long distances without being seen.

Kizilelma B and Kizilelma C are its planned variants which are intended to be supersonic, with the latter having a twin-engined configuration. In addition to TAI Anka-3, it is one of the two Turkish jet-powered stealth UCAVs. As many as 6 prototypes of multirole stealth unmanned combat aerial vehicle have been built so far.