Türkiye's Kizilelma rules skies: Stealth UAV nails F-16 in simulated strike

Türkiye’s unmanned stealth fighter jet Kizilelma has reached a milestone, locking on an F-16 and achieving a direct hit in its simulated test fire using locally produced advanced MURAD AESA radar and firing a local air-to-air missile.

According to the statement made by Türkiye’s UAV giant, Baykar, on Thursday, Bayraktar Kizilelma, developed nationally and originally with the company's own resources, has successfully turned one of the critical corners that will prove its effectiveness on the battlefield.

The nationally developed unmanned stealth fighter, which took off from the AKINCI Flight Training and Test Centre in Corlu, Tekirdag, performed a one-hour, 45-minute flight at an average altitude of 4,572 metres, performing a formation flight with F-16s and verifying the integration of national radar and munitions.

This flight brings Bayraktar Kizilelma's total flight time during the tests to over 55 hours.

Two F-16 fighter jets belonging to the Turkish Air Force also participated in the Bayraktar-Kizilelma Gokdogan Ammunition Tethered Flight and Murad AESA Radar Performance Test.

While one of the F-16s performed a close-range flight with the Bayraktar Kizilelma, demonstrating the platform's compatibility with manned combat aircraft, the other F-16 assumed the role of "target aircraft" as required by the scenario.

The test

As part of the test, Bayraktar Kizilelma detected an F-16 target at a distance of 48.2 kilometres using the ASELSAN-developed MURAD AESA Radar and locked onto the target.

It then conducted a simulated electronic launch using the TUBITAK SAGE-manufactured Gokdogan.

In the simulation, Bayraktar Kizilelma took an important step in air-to-air combat by neutralising a highly manoeuvrable F-16 target with a direct hit in a virtual environment.

One of the most critical phases of the test was testing the communication infrastructure between the aircraft, radar, and missile.

After locking onto the F-16, the Bayraktar Kizilelma seamlessly transmitted instant target, location, and speed information from the MURAD AESA radar to the Gokdogan missile it carried on its wing.

Successful validation

The successful validation of this data link between the Bayraktar Kizilelma and the ammunition was a significant milestone in the unmanned combat aircraft's ability to neutralise beyond-visual-range (BVR) targets.

In this historic flight over the skies of Tekirdag, three different and challenging test scenarios were successfully executed simultaneously.

While the F-16 formation flight, which demonstrated joint operational capability with manned fighter aircraft, shed light on the future air combat concept, the aerodynamic and avionic compatibility of the platform was confirmed with the Gokdogan.

The detection, tracking, locking and data transfer capabilities of the national MURAD AESA radar, which was activated on the same flight, were also proven under challenging conditions.