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Kizilelma UCAV Flies with Gökdoğan Air-to-Air Missiles

FlyMarshall NewsroomBy No Comments6 Mins Read

The Kizilema has been testing an AESA radar for a while, while a previous prototype progressed from captive carry trials of air-to-ground munitions to live-fire in a matter of days.

Turkey’s Kizilelma UCAV has started captive carry trials with Gökdoğan BVR (Beyond Visual Range) AAMs (Air-to-Air Missiles), while also testing the Murad-100A AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar and the TOYGUN EOTS (Electro-Optical Tracking System).

Developer Baykar and its chief technology officer Selçuk Bayraktar released three videos on Nov. 18, 19 and 20, 2025, showing the test flights. While the first two were called the “GÖKDOĞAN Munition Linked Flight Test & EOTS–Murad AESA Radar Performance Test,” the third one was called “F-16 Formation Flight, GÖKDOĞAN Munition Linked Flight Test & Murad AESA Radar Performance Test.”

In addition to the formation flights with F-16s, the test flight reportedly included a radar lock on the F-16 and a simulated missile fire. It is unclear whether a live shot will follow soon.

However, given that merely 10 days passed between Kizilelma’s carriage trials with the TEBER-82 and TOLUN air-to-ground munitions in late September and the live-fire tests in early October, that possibility cannot be discarded either. The Kizilelma is also meant to fly off the TCG Anadolu amphibious assault drone carrier.

While the TOLUN and TEBER-82 tests were conducted with airframe TC-OZB3 (the third prototype or PT-3), the Gökdoğan was carried on the TC-OZB5 (PT-5) – Kizilelma’s most recent prototype carrying the Aselsan-developed Toygun EOTS and Murad. The Murad-100A – also integrated on the Akinci and with a version meant to upgrade the Turkish Air Force’s (TurAF) older F-16s – has been tested on the PT-5 Kizilelma for some time.

The test

The videos showed the Kizilelma carrying a Gökdoğan on each wing, with the one on the starboard-side being partly colored silver instead of the orange paint scheme. Chased and recorded by an Akinci, the Kizilelma performs a series of maneuvers before coming in to land.

The trials may have involved studying the aerodynamic impact both the missiles and the Kizilelma have on each other’s airframes; whether the databus, electrical and electronic interface allows the Murad 100-A to ‘talk’ to the Gökdoğan; and the fusion between the Toygun EOTS and the Murad radar to locate and track targets.

Aselsan said it will “continue to provide force-multiplier capabilities to Bayraktar Kizilelma with game-changing systems.” Kemal Topalömer, director general of Gökdoğan’s developer TÜBİTAK SAGE, said the Kizilelma commencing flight tests with the missile reflects Turkey’s “accumulated engineering capability, forward-looking vision, and technological ambition are opening the door to a new era in our national airspace.

The Gökdoğan, powered by a solid-fuel rocket engine, has a range of over 65 km and it has a solid-state active RF (Radio Frequency) seeker. A ‘lock on after launch’ mode is supported by a data-link to receive target updates from the launching aircraft. The missile also has “advanced control algorithms.”

A live-fire test would make the Kizilelma the first UCAV to fire an air-to-air missile, assuming it does so before Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat. In fact, Boeing Defence Australia announced that it plans to launch an AIM-120 AMRAAM in December 2025.

Such a capability would be important for Kizilelma as, in the standard CCA (Collaborative Combat Aircraft) role, it is meant to fly alongside the Kaan fighter. The involvement of a pilotless target drone will also validate the capabilities of the Gökdoğan, making the imminent live-fire as its fourth known trial ejection.

Another shot of the Kizilelma flying with two Gökdoğan missiles. (Image credit: Ihlas Haber Ajansi)

Conclusion

There are also significant commercial and prestige stakes riding on the program, given the advent of unmanned asymmetric warfare necessitating the need for CCAs, and other countries rapidly advancing their own CCA programs.

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, but even these are yet to demonstrate complex collaborative maneuvers.

The reason could have less to do with technology, and more with how air forces are still figuring out the minor control, handling, logistical and operational concepts of CCAs, and establishing the tactics for their use. We do not know the level of autonomous capability in the Kizilelma UCAV, and if it is able to detect and engage targets on its own.

However, even a remotely-controlled AESA radar and BVR AAM-armed drone, or a group of them, at standoff ranges go a long way in restricting airspace for enemy fighters and cruise missiles. The AESA radar also gives a secondary AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning and Control) capability. The Kizilelma carrying a long-range air-to-air missile is a sign of interesting things to come.

It is not for nothing that Leonardo has chosen the Kizilelma, along with the TB2, TB3 and Akinci UCAVs, to be manufactured in Italy by its LBA Systems joint venture with Baykar. The possibly heavily Europeanized version of the Kizilelma is likely to be pitched as a collaborative fighter for the GCAP, and even marketed internationally.


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