Bayraktar Kızılelma Makes History: Turkey Becomes First Nation to Conduct BVR Air-to-Air Missile Kill with Autonomous UCAV

(DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA) — In a groundbreaking achievement that has reshaped the landscape of modern aerial warfare, Turkey’s Bayraktar Kızılelma unmanned combat aerial vehicle has cemented its place in military history by becoming the world’s first fighter-class UCAV to successfully execute a radar-guided beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile engagement in a live-fire environment.

The milestone occurred on November 28, 2025, when the Kızılelma fired an indigenous Gökdoğan BVR missile—valued at approximately USD 1 million (RM4.5 million) per round—guided autonomously by its onboard Murad active electronically scanned array radar against a high-speed jet-powered target drone.

This achievement represents a profound shift in global air combat doctrine as the traditional dominance of manned fighters is challenged by autonomous systems capable of executing high-fidelity kill chains independently and with unprecedented cost-effectiveness.

The event took place off the coast of Sinop in the Black Sea, with the Kızılelma prototype flying in operational formation alongside five Turkish Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft to validate manned-unmanned teaming and tactical data-link integrity during combat conditions.

During the test, the UCAV detected, tracked, and engaged the target using the Murad AESA radar, then launched the Gökdoğan missile from its wing station, demonstrating an autonomous engagement cycle previously exclusive to human fighter pilots.

Footage released from the target drone showed the missile performing a lofted flight profile—ascending immediately after launch to optimise range and kinetic energy before diving onto the target and achieving a direct, high-energy frontal impact.

This demonstration confirms the Kızılelma’s operational viability in the air-to-air domain, a sphere previously reserved for multi-role fighters such as the F-16, Rafale, and Eurofighter Typhoon, signalling the dawn of fully unmanned air dominance.

Turkish Air Force Commander Gen. Ziya Cemal Kadıoğlu hailed the feat by stating, “Today we have opened the doors to a new era in aviation history. 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. Our entirely indigenous and original Bayraktar Kizilelma successfully completed this historic mission with Aselsan’s MURAD radar and the BVR active radar guided Gökdoğan missile developed by TÜBİTAK SAGE. Turkey has become the first country in the world to achieve this. The Turkish Armed Forces have history and the doors to next-generation aerial warfare have been opened.”

This statement underscores the strategic magnitude of the test, confirming that unmanned platforms like the Kızılelma are no longer supplementary assets but emerging pillars of air superiority doctrine.

The Genesis of Kızılelma: From Mythology to a Supersonic Unmanned Fighter

The Bayraktar Kızılelma derives its name from the “Red Apple” of Turkish mythology, symbolising an aspirational yet inevitable strategic triumph, reflecting Baykar’s vision of pioneering a new generation of autonomous fighter aircraft.

The development of the Kızılelma stemmed from the battlefield successes of Baykar’s earlier systems, including the TB2 and Akinci UCAVs, which influenced tactical outcomes in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, and Nagorno-Karabakh, prompting Ankara to accelerate investment in unmanned strike and air defence suppression capabilities.

The program achieved several key milestones: its first engine run in September 2022, maiden flight in December 2022, and supersonic envelope testing in 2024, followed by multi-sensor integration flights in 2025 featuring the Murad AESA radar and Toygun electro-optical targeting system.

Designed as a stealth-enhanced, low-observable UCAV, the Kızılelma serves as a next-generation loyal wingman platform capable of cooperating with F-16s, Akinci UCAVs, and Turkey’s fifth-generation KAAN fighter through encrypted datalink architectures and artificial intelligence-driven swarm coordination.

With a maximum take-off weight of 8.5 tons and a weapons payload of 1.5 tons, the UCAV can operate at altitudes of 25,000–30,000 feet with a combat radius of 500 nautical miles, enabling deep-strike and defensive counter-air missions without risking pilot lives.

Its performance envelope—initially cruising at Mach 0.6 with future upgrades expected to reach Mach 1.2—positions it between the U.S. XQ-58A Valkyrie and Australia’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat, but with a more advanced indigenous sensor and weapons suite.

The Kızılelma’s airframe incorporates serrated edges, a blended fuselage, shielded engine inlet geometry, and provisions for internal weapon bays to minimise radar cross-section, creating a low-observable unmanned fighter comparable to early fourth-plus-generation manned aircraft.

Originally powered by the Ukrainian AI-322F turbofan engine generating 4,200 kgf of thrust, the UCAV is set to transition to the Turkish-developed TEI TF-6000 and TF-10000 engines by 2027, reducing reliance on foreign propulsion systems and enhancing export viability.

Baykar Chairman Selçuk Bayraktar stressed the UCAV’s future role by stating, “The game-changing impact that Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs created in air-to-ground missions will now be carried into air-to-air missions with Bayraktar KIZILELMA.”

The Kızılelma’s relatively low unit cost—between USD 30–40 million (RM142–190 million)—makes it drastically cheaper than manned fighters such as the F-35A (USD 120 million / RM570 million) or Rafale (USD 80 million / RM380 million), allowing countries to deploy larger fleets and accept higher mission attrition.

Murad AESA: The Advanced Radar System Enabling Autonomous Air Superiority

Central to Kızılelma’s historic achievement is the Murad-100A AESA radar, a fully indigenous solid-state X-band system produced by ASELSAN using gallium nitride technology for enhanced power efficiency and electronic warfare resilience.

The radar, revealed publicly during the 2022 Istanbul Airshow, underwent extensive ground tests before debuting aboard an Akinci UCAV in early 2025 and subsequently being integrated onto the Kızılelma in October 2025.

Murad offers a detection range of up to 160 nautical miles (about 300 km), with tracking capability exceeding 120 nautical miles, placing it in the competitive class of Western AESA radars such as the AN/APG-83 and the Rafale’s RBE2.

Its high-resolution synthetic aperture radar imaging, electronic beam steering, digital beam forming, and robust ECCM suite grant the UCAV multi-role functionality in both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions.

The modular architecture of Murad allows seamless installation on UCAVs, upgraded Turkish F-16s, and the KAAN fifth-generation fighter, forming a multi-platform sensor ecosystem.

ASELSAN General Manager Ahmet Akyol highlighted the radar’s global significance by declaring, “For the first time in the world, a BVR air-to-air missile fired using AESA radar technology from an unmanned combat aircraft destroyed the target.”

The radar’s maiden flight aboard the Kızılelma PT-5 prototype on October 21, 2025, successfully tracked airborne targets across Tekirdağ and Çanakkale airspace, validating target discrimination and fire-control quality tracking.

Combined with the UCAV’s low radar signature and advanced datalink connectivity, Murad transforms Kızılelma into a near 4.5-generation fighter equivalent capable of executing autonomous intercept missions.

Gökdoğan: Turkey’s Indigenous BVR Missile Completes the Unmanned Kill Chain

The Gökdoğan BVR missile—Turkey’s indigenous counterpart to the AIM-120 AMRAAM—is a cornerstone of the nation’s strategic shift toward complete aerospace self-sufficiency.

Entering service in 2024, Gökdoğan features a baseline range exceeding 65 km, with extended-range derivatives expected to reach 100–180 km, positioning it between the Meteor (200 km) and the AMRAAM C-7 (105 km).

The missile includes an active radar seeker, secure two-way datalink, high-energy solid-fuel propulsion, and a blast-fragmentation warhead optimised for high-speed targets, with sophisticated ECCM algorithms that enhance survivability in contested electromagnetic environments.

In the live-fire test, Murad provided mid-course guidance, enabling a seamless autonomous kill chain—detection, tracking, engagement, missile launch, mid-course correction, terminal homing, and target destruction—without human intervention.

The presence of TÜBİTAK SAGE Institute Director Kemal Topalömer during the test emphasised the institutional synergy behind Turkey’s defence ecosystem and its National Technology Initiative.

This integrated kill chain represents a significant leap beyond current unmanned systems, none of which—American, Chinese, or European—have yet demonstrated a successful BVR missile kill in a real-world scenario.

From Simulation to Global Impact: How Kızılelma Changes the Aero-Strategic Balance

The journey to the historic live-fire began with a simulated engagement held on November 20, 2025, in which the Kızılelma PT-5 “shot down” an F-16 in a virtual BVR encounter, demonstrating fire-control logic, radar lock sustainability, and tactical formation integrity.

The November 28 live-fire trial advanced this capability by validating sensor fusion, autonomous flight behaviour, target prioritisation algorithms, and BVR launch decision-making under realistic conditions.

During the test, the Kızılelma flew alongside escort F-16s and an Akinci UCAV assigned to aerial monitoring, demonstrating a tri-layered manned-unmanned teaming architecture that is central to Turkey’s future combat air operations.

Following the successful kill, Baykar declared, “This test marked the first time in aviation history that an unmanned fighter jet successfully destroyed a jet-engine–powered aerial target using a BVR air-to-air missile.”

A defence analyst observed, “KIZILELMA continues to move exactly in the direction critics once said it couldn’t,” capturing the strategic defiance that has characterised Turkey’s drone industry.

On the global stage, Turkey now leads unmanned warfare innovation, overtaking the Australian MQ-28 Ghost Bat, which is scheduled for its own AMRAAM firing test in late 2025, and surpassing China’s GJ-11 and America’s XQ-58A, which have not yet demonstrated live BVR missile tests.

The Kızılelma offers asymmetric strategic benefits in contested regions such as the Eastern Mediterranean, the Aegean Sea, northern Iraq, and the Black Sea, where its low cost, long endurance, and autonomous engagement capability enable high-intensity sortie generation at minimal financial expense.

Operational cost per flight hour—estimated at USD 3,000–4,000 (RM14,200–19,000)—is significantly lower than the F-16’s USD 25,000–30,000 (RM118,000–142,000), meaning the UCAV can overwhelm adversary aircraft through attrition-based swarm tactics.

Export interest continues to rise, with 37 countries signing agreements with Baykar as of 2025, and strong demand emerging from Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia, reflecting global confidence in Turkey’s increasingly advanced aerospace sector.

Final Analysis: The Dawn of Autonomy in Air Superiority

As Turkey prepares to integrate new systems such as the KARAT infrared search-and-track sensor, internal weapons bays, Turkish-built turbofan engines, and carrier-capable variants for the TCG Anadolu and future MUGEM-class carriers, the Kızılelma is positioned to become the world’s leading unmanned fighter platform.

Future tests planned for 2026—including engagements against ŞİMŞEK high-speed drones—will further expand the UCAV’s operational envelope and validate its suitability for air denial, escort, and deep-strike missions.

When paired with Akinci, TB3, and the fifth-generation KAAN fighter, Kızılelma forms the backbone of a fully network-centric Turkish air combat ecosystem designed to redefine the principles of air superiority.

The historic BVR missile firing marks the beginning of an era in which unmanned fighters will compete directly with—and in some mission sets surpass—their manned counterparts, reshaping global military aviation for decades to come.

As Gen. Kadıoğlu declared, “History bears witness that our strength is our future,” encapsulating the transformative impact of Turkey’s aerospace innovations on both national defence and the global balance of airpower.

Turkey’s accelerating transition toward autonomous air-combat systems signals a broader shift in global airpower dynamics as nations increasingly recognise that unmanned platforms can sustain persistent operations, absorb higher attrition rates, and deliver greater cost-exchange advantages than traditional manned fighters.

The Kızılelma’s demonstrated ability to execute a fully autonomous BVR kill chain indicates that future high-intensity conflicts may feature AI-enabled UCAVs operating in coordinated swarms, saturating enemy air defences and overwhelming even sophisticated integrated air defence systems.

As regional competitors analyse Turkey’s breakthrough, states such as Greece, Israel, Russia, and China are expected to accelerate their own unmanned fighter programs, triggering a new technological arms race centred not on stealth or speed alone but on autonomy, sensor fusion, and distributed lethality.

From an operational planning perspective, Kızılelma’s low operating cost and high sortie generation rate could enable Turkey to maintain continuous air-dominance patrols over contested zones such as the Eastern Mediterranean and Northern Syria, imposing unprecedented strategic pressure on adversaries.

Strategically, the fusion of indigenous sensors, engines, weapons, and AI mission systems in a single unmanned fighter platform positions Turkey to become one of the world’s key shapers of next-generation air-combat doctrine, influencing how allied air forces prepare, train, and fight in the coming decades.

— DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA