Turkey’s stealth combat drone Kızılelma successfully shot down an airborne target using a radar-guided, beyond-visual-range missile in a test flight over the Black Sea, marking what its manufacturer says is a first in aviation history, the company announced on Sunday.
Baykar Technologies, Turkey’s leading drone manufacturer, announced that the unmanned aircraft detected, tracked and destroyed a jet-powered target drone on Saturday using its own onboard radar.
The company said the demonstration showed an unmanned combat aircraft independently employing a radar-guided air-to-air missile against a target outside the operator’s line of sight for the first time.
Baykar, the İstanbul-based developer of the TB2 combat drone widely used in Ukraine and other conflict zones, is co-owned by Selçuk Bayraktar, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son-in-law. Bayraktar once said a jet-powered UCAV, which the company developed using domestic resources, was a “12-year-long dream.”
The test took place off the coast of Sinop province, where Kızılelma used its MURAD 100-A active electronically scanned array radar, developed by Turkey’s defense electronics firm Aselsan, to identify and lock onto the target.
It then fired a Gökdoğan beyond-visual-range missile produced by TÜBİTAK SAGE, the nation’s defense research institute. Baykar said the missile struck its target with “full accuracy.”
According to the company, the strike was carried out entirely with domestically developed systems, from the drone itself to the radar and missile.
During the mission, Kızılelma flew in formation with five Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter jets that took off from Merzifon Air Base. A Bayraktar Akıncı drone filmed the joint operation between manned and unmanned aircraft.
Baykar’s chief technology officer, Selçuk Bayraktar, was on board one of the F-16s during the test. Senior commanders and executives from Aselsan, TÜBİTAK SAGE and Roketsan were also present in other aircraft, according to the company.
Bayraktar said in a social media post that the test represented “an unprecedented achievement in global aviation history” and expressed gratitude to the Turkish Armed Forces and Turkey’s defense industry partners.
Bayraktar #KIZILELMA, görüş ötesi havadan havaya füzeyle hedefini vurarak dünya havacılık tarihinde bir ilke daha imza attı. ✈️🚀🍎
Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri'ne, Savunma Sanayii Başkanlığı'na, ASELSAN'a, TÜBİTAK SAGE'ye ve Baykar'daki yol arkadaşlarıma, bu milletin bir mühendis… pic.twitter.com/zD61ARFpDB
— Selçuk Bayraktar (@Selcuk) November 30, 2025
Kızılelma is Turkey’s first jet-powered, low-observable unmanned combat aircraft and is intended to operate alongside manned fighters for air-to-air missions. The drone has been undergoing phased flight testing since its maiden flight in late 2022.