Close Menu
Demo
Demo
The Aviationist

Turkey’s Kizilelma UCAV Shoots Down Target Drone with Gökdoğan Air-to-Air Missile

FlyMarshall NewsroomBy No Comments5 Mins Read

With the live AAM test, the Kizilelma is now the first UCAV to launch a radar-guided air-to-air missile.

Turkey’s Kizilelma UCAV ha conducted a live-fire test of the Gökdoğan BVR AAM (Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile), making it the first UCAV to demonstrate that capability, announced drone maker Baykar on Nov. 30, 2025.  The test was conducted on Nov. 28.

A total of five Turkish Air Force F-16s took part in the test, with the Kizilelma seen taking off with four of them, including two twin-seater F-16Ds with Baykar and Aselsan CEOs on board. One F-16 and an Akinci UCAV acted as safety chase aircraft.

The footage shows the Kizilema flying with two Gökdoğan AAMs, one partly colored orange and the other silver on the starboard (right-side) wing. The latter was fired at the target drone.

Like the Gökdoğan’s and the short-range Bozdoğan’s October test from a Turkish Air Force (Türk Hava Kuvvetleri) F-16, the missile again performs the ‘loft’ maneuver, climbing up after ejection to improve kinetic energy and tracking ranges. An on-board camera from the target drone captures the head-on impact with the Gökdoğan.

Lead-up to the test

As we have mentioned in our previous reports, the Gökdoğan’s previous captive carry trials and the latest live test were carried out by the the TC-OZB5 (PT-5) – Kizilelma’s most recent prototype. The aircraft is carrying the Aselsan-developed Toygun EOTS and Murad radar.

Merely 10 days passed between the last carriage test and the live shot, which is also the same amount of time that separated the carriage trials and the eventual live test of TC-OZB3/PT-3 with the TOLUN and TEBER-82 guided munitions. The Murad-100A – also integrated on the Akinci and with a version meant to upgrade the Turkish Air Force’s (TurAF) older F-16s – had been tested on the PT-5 Kizilelma for some time. One of the tests showed a radar lock on the F-16 and a simulated missile fire.

A live shot from the Akinci with the Gökdoğan cannot be ruled out, helping to market a cheaper propeller-driven unmanned AAM-firing UCAV for interested countries. The exact autonomous capabilities of both these UCAVs are not known, but given that the TB3 can land and take-off automatically on the TCG Anadolu amphibious assault UCAV carrier, the Kizilelma and the Akinci can be assumed to autonomously perform elementary maneuvers like taxing, take-off, preset waypoint patrols, return-to-base and landing.

Gen. Ziya Cemal Kadıoğlu, Turkish Air Force commander, in his address following the test reflected the massive prestige stakes associated with the program:

“Today we have opened the doors to a new era in aviation history. For the first time in the world, an unmanned combat aircraft fired an air-to-air missile with radar guidance and hit an aerial target with perfect accuracy. Our entirely indigenous and original Bayraktar Kizilelma successfully completed this historic mission with Aselsan’s MURAD radar and the BVR active radar guided Gökdoğan missile developed by TÜBİTAK SAGE. Turkey has become the first country in the world to achieve this. The Turkish Armed Forces have history and the doors to next-generation aerial warfare have been opened.”

With the live AAM test, the Kizilelma UCAV has also beaten Being Defence Australia’s MQ-28A Ghost Bat, which is slated for a live fire of an AIM-120 AMRAAM in December.

The results of the test will now likely also be used within the LBA Systems Joint Venture of Baykar with Italy’s Leonardo. That project, within a short time since its inception, announced ambitious plans to manufacture the TB2, TB3, Akinci and Kizilelma UCAVs in Italy.

Conclusion

The Aviationist has been drawing attention to the massive tactical utility of AAM-armed UCAVs for real-world contested combat environments in its coverage of Ankara’s UCAV program. While incapable of high-speed, hard maneuvering and complex decision-making capabilities, even semi-autonomous drones with AESA radars and long-range AAMs can deny airspace, permanently complicating an adversary’s offensive plans.

With a group of such UCAVs/CCAs, holding enemy aerial targets at risk from standoff ranges is possible for first and second tier air forces. They usually have a large fleet of Gen. 4 and 4.5 aircraft, AEW&C aircraft, aerial refuellers and a reasonably diverse inventory of ground-based air defenses.

Different UCAV/CCA programs have attained different capabilities. The Kiizelma, with its own AESA radar, has fired an AAM at a target. The YFQ-44A and the two prototypes of the YFQ-42A have so far flown solo, and have not yet demonstrated MUM-T maneuvers with other aircraft. Only the Chinese GJ-11, the XQ-58A Valkyrie and the MQ-28A Ghost Bat have been controlled by manned aircraft.

The recent Japanese test with Subaru drones appears more geared towards establishing the technical, communication, safety and logistical processes of MUM-T (Manned-Unmanned Teaming) missions. This trajectory suggests a future milestone for any CCA program would be undertaking complex MUM-T maneuvers, with hard video documentation of flight, collaborative flying, tasking and execution of mission.


source

Related Posts

Add A Comment
Leave A Reply