The Kizilelma is slated to fly alongside the KAAN as its main Collaborative Fight Plane, together with the ANKA-III.
Turkey’s Kizilelma UCAV, developed by drone and aerospace main Baykar, attained main milestones from late September to the early days of October with captive carry trials of homegrown air-to-ground munitions. On Sep. 27, 2025, Baykar introduced the Kizilelma carried the TOLUN glide bomb, adopted by the TEBER-82 guided bomb on Oct. 3, releasing footage on each events.
The Kizilelma is proven carrying two TOLUNs, one unit every on a SADAK-4T quad-rack below every of the wings, and is flying at low altitudes whereas performing a collection of maneuvers like banking, yawing left and proper, earlier than coming again into land. This was doubtless achieved to judge the fitments and clasps on the rack holding the bomb, aerodynamic drag and dealing with. The touchdown gear is proven prolonged all through the video.
Within the check with the TEBER-82, Kizilelma is carrying just one unit on the left wing and flies with the gears retracted. Each the check flights are recorded within the air by electro-optical footage from an Akinci UCAV. The munitions are inert rounds, as denoted by the blue paint.
Teber güdüm kiti takılı Mk.82 bombasıyla havalanmış. Tek kanada yüklenmiş, asimetrik yükte uçuş karakteristiğini görmeye çalışıyorlar sanırım. Bu konfigürasyonda kanat uçlarında LAU-129 füze lançeri de kullanılabilir. Frenlemede kanard kullanılmış. pic.twitter.com/Ujy9KBi7qv
— 𝚅𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚑𝚒 (@captzulu737) October 3, 2025
Kizilelma’s testing
With no weapon launch going down, the assessments look like normal captive carry trials of the TOLUN or the TEBER-82, assessing the mixing of the UCAV’s mission and fireplace management system with the bombs. Such check flights additionally embody trialing {the electrical} and digital connections and the influence the payloads have on the airframe and the flight profile.
This testing exhibits the likelihood that Kizilelma may very well be used for surveillance-strike roles on land targets. The UCAV has been constantly touted as the longer term wingman CCA for the KAAN fighter, whose second prototype is now below manufacturing.
It has been beforehand speculated the Kizilelma would obtain Aselasan’s ARAT 100 IRST (Infrared Search and Observe) on high of the nostril and the TOYGUN 100 EOTS (Electro-Optical Monitoring System) below the chin. That improve was proven in public throughout July 2025’s IDEF25 exhibition, the place the brand new Kizilelma prototype was seen with these methods put in.
Çok şükür, görmek istediğimiz testlere sıra gelmiş. Akıncı yavaş ve manevra yeteneği düşük ama KE daha hızlı ve daha yüksekten uçuyor. Potansiyeli çok fazla. pic.twitter.com/TlUZLIAzMH
— 𝚅𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚑𝚒 (@captzulu737) September 26, 2025
Nonetheless, the Kizilelma flying with the Tolun and the Teber-82 doesn’t have them put in, and we’re prone to see these in future trials. The Kizilelma airframe within the assessments can be the newer third prototype that The Aviationist reported on Jul. 24, 2024 and which flew for the primary time on Sep. 25 of the identical 12 months.
TOLUN and TEBER-82
The existence of the TOLUN bomb has been reported since late 2022, when Turkish protection information retailers reported integration actions of the Tolun and the Akinci. Aselsan developed each the weapon and the SADAK-4T Good Pneumatic Quad Rack to hold 4 items of the munition.
The TOLUN is a GPS/INS guided munition to be used towards delicate and hardened targets. Its warhead is designed by Tübitak SAGE, with Aselsan growing the remainder of the system.
On Aug. 9, 2024, the TOLUN bomb was launched by the Akinci UCAV on a floating goal at sea. The weapon achieved a serious milestone on Jan. 13, 2025, when an ANKA III UCAV dropped it from its inside bays for the primary time.
Aselsan can be growing an IIR (Imaging Infrared) seeker variant to hit shifting targets and an unnamed “ground-launched model with Delta-V’s hybrid gas rocket motor”. The previous will use a pod to maintain the pilot “within the loop.”
The bottom launched variant suggests launch by an MLRS (A number of Rocket Launch System) just like the TRG-230. That is much like the U.S.-made GLSDB (Floor-Launched Small Diameter Bomb), that fires the modified GBU-39 SDB from the HIMARS (Excessive Mobility Artillery Rocket System).
In accordance with TurDef, TOLUN “achieved vital milestones reminiscent of 4 simultaneous hits and hitting its goal below intense GPS jamming” after being dropped by an F-16 in early 2024. An F-16 can carry eight TOLUNs on two SADAK racks. An air-dropped TOLUN guided by GNSS and INS has a variety of greater than 110 km.
The TEBER equipment, much like the JDAMs, transforms Mk-81 and Mk-82 bombs into guided munitions with twin laser and GPS-guidance. Previous to the discharge of the TOLUN from the interior bays, the ANKA III accomplished its first armed flights with a TEBER-82 on Sep. 1, 2024, carrying the guided munition on its left wing.
Future
It’s unclear if Baykar has deliberate a fourth Kizilelma prototype, or if the third is in the identical last configuration that will go into manufacturing. Given the complicated nature of networking, sensor fusion and autonomous flight expertise, {hardware}, electronics and software program related to CCAs, it could require dozens of rigorous check flights and modifications earlier than the Kizilelma is even examined alongside a manned fighter, not to mention going into serial manufacturing.
Das türkische unbemannte Kampfflugzeug #KIZILELMA mit AESA Radar integrierten IRST (Infrarot-Such- und Monitoring-System) undEOTS (Electro-Optical Concentrating on System) .
Diese Systeme, die von #ASELSAN entwickelt wurden, sind für die Luft-Luft- und Luft-Boden-Aufklärung und… pic.twitter.com/yx4Jz18yBi
— Verteidigungsindustrie der Türkei (M.E.A) (@denizaltici) September 30, 2025
Turkey’s improvement of a reputable UCAV and CCA program can be a power multiplier and hedge towards being denied superior jets just like the F-35A, assuming its rival Greece receives it first. Turkey has additionally developed the long-range SİPER – that native commentators name Ankara’s analogue to the Russian S-400; medium-range HİSAR-O, short-range HİSAR-A and HİSAR-A+; and low-altitude, short-range Sungur methods; Bozdoğan (short-range), Gökdoğan and Gökhan BVRs; and the Tayfun brief and medium-range ballistic missile household.
🇹🇷Turquie: Le drone Kızılelma de Baykar sera équipé de capteurs avancés similaires à ceux des avions de 5e génération comme le F-35. Il disposera notamment d’un radar AESA (MURAD-200A), d’un EOTS (T-100), d’un IRST (KARAT-100), ainsi que d’un système DAS et d’un MWS pour la… pic.twitter.com/C5vWGf77Ng
— Restitutor Orientis 🇨🇭 (@restitutorII) February 22, 2025
These homegrown methods afford a whole lot of flexibility in any battle within the Mediterranean. As for the Kizilelma, a drop check of the air-to-ground munitions, captive carrying and live-firing of any of the above AAMs, and flying with the KAAN, will present the route by which it’s heading. The one different CCA which has quickly progressed this far and is now poised to endure a live-fire of an AAM is Boeing Defence Australia’s MQ-28A Ghost Bat.
