What Happened
Italian M-346 Commands Turkish Kizilelma In Crewed-Uncrewed Teaming
Leonardo and Baykar have successfully completed the first live flight phase of their K-SWARM crewed-uncrewed teaming program, with an Italian M-346 jet commanding a Bayraktar Kizilelma unmanned fighter through a series of autonomous formation maneuvers. The trials, which took place in May 2026 at Baykar’s flight and test center in Turkey, mark a significant milestone in the development of collaborative combat aircraft. The K-SWARM program aims to build interoperability between crewed and uncrewed aircraft, and the successful trial suggests that this technology could be integrated into future air warfare systems. This development was first reported by AeroTime.