Baykar’s Kizilelma Armed Drone Makes Official First Flight
Turkish drone manufacturer Baykar announced on Wednesday that its prototype Kizilelma armed drone has officially made its first flight.
Baykar Chief Technology Officer Selcuk Bayraktar made the announcement by uploading a video of the prototype in flight to Twitter. “We could not keep it anymore on the ground. It flew! Thanks to our lord”, said Bayraktar in the tweet. He then added that the flight of the prototype marked the achievement of a dream the company has had for 20 years.
In a separate statement, Baykar CEO Haluk Bayraktar said that the flight was a milestone for Turkey’s aviation industry, with the prototype making its first flight within a year of the Kizilelma program’s public launch. According to him, the project to date has been fully funded using Baykar’s resources.
The official announcement follows Baykar’s previous release of video of the Kizilelma prototype in flight at low altitude on 3 December. While initially reported as the prototype’s first flight, the company subsequently clarified that the flight was actually a low altitude takeoff and landing test.
Earlier this week, Haluk had described the Kizilelma as a critical project for the development of Turkish self-sufficiency in military industry during a presentation at Turkiye Innovation Week in Istanbul. According to him, revenue from the export of Baykar’s other drones has been used for the self-funded project.
The Kizilelma, named after the Red Apple in Turkish myth that symbolizes something attractive because of the difficulty in reaching it, is Baykar’s latest addition to its lineup of unmanned combat aerial vehicles. Originally developed under the program name of the National Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle System (Muharip Insansiz Uçak Sistemi or MIUS in short), the Kizilelma program intends to develop a stealthy UCAV with short takeoff and landing capabilities in addition to a target endurance of five hours, enabling its use on the TCG Anadolu amphibious assault ship.