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Turkiye’s Bayraktar Kizilelma (Red Apple) uncrewed combat aerial vehicle has entered mass production, according to defence manufacturer Baykar.
The short take-off and landing combat aircraft will reportedly enter Turkish Armed Forces inventory next year and already has a sixth prototype aircraft on the production line, according to the company.
The country’s first unmanned fighter jet, developed domestically, also successfully completed aerodynamics system identification testing in March this year.
The system itself has a 10-metre wingspan, 14.5-metre length and is powered by a turbofan engine. It reportedly houses an electro-optical targeting system, IR Search and Track System, Multi-Mode AESA Radar as well as capability for weapons held in an internal bay and on external hardpoints.
“Kizilelma has started mass production … It is a complex aircraft, everything is made in Türkiye,” Baykar chairman Selcuk Bayraktar said.
“When I was young, Turkiye didn’t even have a single aircraft designed. We are now the first country in the world to mass-produce UAVs.
“We have 65 per cent of the global market, 60 per cent of which belongs to Baykar. The whole world is asking, ‘How did you do it?’ It was built on great faith, determination, effort and principle.
“Kizilelma has entered mass production and will hopefully enter the inventory. The sixth Kizilelma is currently on the production line. We are constantly producing and improving it.
“The Kizilelma was the first unmanned aircraft to enter mass production and the Bayraktar TB3 (drone) was the first aircraft in the world to take off and land from short runways. We built it before the US and Israel, and there was competition there too.”
The aircraft is reportedly capable of a 0.6 Mach cruise speed, 500 nm combat radius, three-hour endurance, 1,500-kilogram payload capacity and 25,000 feet operational altitude.
