Turkey's Bayraktar Kizilelma Successfully Engages Jet-Powered Aerial Target with BVR Missile

Turkey’s Bayraktar Kizilelma unmanned combat aircraft has completed a milestone live-fire trial over the Black Sea, successfully striking a jet-powered aerial target with a beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile. The test, which took place on November 29, 2025, near Sinop, demonstrates the aircraft’s integration of indigenous systems, including its onboard active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and TÜBİTAK SAGE-developed Gökdoğan missile. The Bayraktar Kizilelma, which first flew in December 2022, has progressively added combat capabilities, including weaponized flight tests earlier in 2025. The aircraft’s success marks a significant development in Turkey’s unmanned combat aircraft capabilities and may have implications for its export and co-production prospects, particularly in the context of European air forces’ efforts to adopt AI-enabled, teamed combat architectures. This report is based on information from AeroTime.