Turkish national uncrewed aerial vehicle Kızılelma has become the first platform in history to successfully strike an airborne target using a beyond-visual-range (BVR) air-to-air missile, as announced on Nov. 30, drawing praise and attention from media outlets across the world.
Defense analysts said the achievement marked a major step in the country’s push for autonomous air combat capabilities, with wider implications for regional power balances.
Bayraktar Kızılelma made aviation history by becoming the first of its kind to successfully carry out a beyond visual range air-to-air missile strike, according to a statement from defense firm Baykar.
Producer Baykar confirmed that the test took place over the Black Sea near the northern province of Sinop, where a jet-powered target drone was launched as part of a scenario simulating long-range aerial combat.
The engagement was guided by Aselsan’s Murad AESA radar integrated into the UAV's systems.
The test flight was accompanied by five F-16 fighter jets that took off from Merzifon’s 5th Main Jet Base and flew in formation with the Kızıelma, demonstrating joint crewed-uncrewed operation capabilities.
“The successful engagement demonstrates a wide-ranging engineering chain, from sensor fusion and radar to flight control and missile systems, working in harmony on a single national platform,” said Haluk Görgün, the head of the Turkish Defense Industries Secretariat.
He said the achievement reflected Türkiye’s long-term aerospace vision and signaled a new level of maturity in its domestic defense ecosystem, adding that the milestone showed “we are now designing and producing an end-to-end national ecosystem of platforms, systems and munitions.
Selçuk Bayraktar, Baykar’s chair and chief technology officer, said the Kızılelma had “scored another first in aviation history” by destroying its target with a beyond visual range air-to-air missile.
Mehmet Fatih Kacır, the industry and technology minister, echoed the sentiment, calling the success a global first and noting that Türkiye’s national technology capacity had reached a level capable of “rewriting the rules of air superiority.”
Russia’s state news agency Tass, meanwhile, reported that “Kızılelma entered the history of world aviation as the first uncrewed combat aircraft to destroy a supersonic jet target using a BVR air-to-air missile.”
Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua highlighted the engineering integration behind the achievement, saying that it “demonstrates sensor fusion, radar capability, flight control algorithms and indigenous missile technology working in harmony toward a singular goal.”
Israeli journalist Amichai Stein called the test a “historic precedent in aviation,” reporting that the Bayraktar-made uncrewed fighter successfully hit a jet-powered airborne target using an air-to-air missile.
The U.K.-based FlightGlobal also marked the development with its coverage, citing Baykar as saying the test confirmed the successful integration and communication between Kızılelma, its radar system and the missile.
Army Recognition, a Belgian company that provides defense and security solutions, underscored that the Turkish drone has performed "the first recorded beyond visual range air-to-air kill by a jet-powered UAV" during the testing.
This development "signals a major leap in unmanned combat capability and moves sixth-generation doctrine toward operational reality," it added.
