Historic milestone for Türkiye’s defense industry: KIZILELMA prepares to enter inventory

One of the fastest-advancing projects in Türkiye's defense industry, the Bayraktar KIZILELMA unmanned fighter jet is preparing to enter service next year. As part of this process, a critical milestone was recently reached with the successful completion of a live munitions test. KIZILELMA's ability to fire munitions not only from external hardpoints but also from internal bays heralds the dawn of a new era. With KIZILELMA's entry into service, relieving the load on the Air Force's F‑16s and F‑4s will of course be one of the most immediate and valuable benefits. Experts, however, say the platform will particularly enable far more effective use of domestically produced munitions. 'WILL TAKE ON SOME FIGHTER-JET MISSIONS' Of course, there's also the cost factor. Frequent use of fighter jets increases their flight hours, leading to higher maintenance, repairs, and spare parts expenses. Yusuf Akbaba emphasizes that these costs are significant and highlights that KIZILELMA will bring clear advantages in this area as well. 'COLLABORATION BETWEEN KIZILELMA AND DOMESTIC MUNITIONS COULD USHER IN A NEW ERA' Akbaba points out that Türkiye ranks among the world's top three countries in air‑to‑ground munition variety, and explains: 'When KIZILELMA arrives, that equation will change at its root. The aircraft and the missiles will both be entirely ours. We'll be able to integrate them in a very short time and at a fraction of the current cost. That will allow us to employ our wide range of air‑to‑ground munitions as we see fit. And the most important point: during a critical operation no one will be able to tell you 'no, you can't do that.' We will have removed operational constraints.' 'KIZILELMA AND ANKA-3 COULD CARRY OUT JOINT MISSIONS' He lays out a concrete scenario to show how the two programs could jointly accomplish critical missions: ''You could task ten ANKA‑3s, each loaded with different munitions, for that mission. If the enemy then sends air assets to intercept the ANKA‑3s, KIZILELMAs armed with air‑to‑air missiles would step in — eliminating the threat. These are perfectly plausible scenarios.'' 'KAAN will also be added to the equation in the coming years. KAAN — or multiple KAANs — would hold back in the air behind the ANKA‑3s and KIZILELMAs and coordinate the entire operation. Türkiye will become one of the first countries to employ manned‑unmanned air platforms together.' Akbaba says.