Turkey’s Baykar company flew a new uncrewed fighter drone on Wednesday for the first time and says it could change air power. The Kizilelma drone is as big as an F-16 (more than 48 feet long) but is 6,000 pounds lighter. It’s capable of carrying out air-to-ground and air-to-air missions. It’s also capable of carrier operations. “Our 20-year dream in our national drone adventure has come true today,” said Baykar’s chief technical official Selcuk Bayraktar.
The aircraft is a canard design, uses a Ukrainian-designed Ivchenko-Progress turbofan engine and will carry up to 3,400 pounds of weapons. It’s also stealthy and designed for short-field operations. Turkey is now conducting sea trials of an amphibious assault ship capable of hosting the Kizilelma.
