Haluk Bayraktar, who is married to Sümeyye Erdoğan– the daughter of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan- said Baykar defense is working to double manufacturing capacity for Bayraktar TB3 and the futuristic Kizilelma drones.
Baykar’s Kizilelma UCAV is being touted as a game-changer.
Kizilelma drone: Advanced military drones will shape the outcome of future wars and eventually make human-piloted fighter jets obsolete, Haluk Bayraktar, CEO of Turkish drone manufacturing giant Baykar Defense, has asserted. In an interview with The Atlantic, Haluk Bayraktar, the son-in-law of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, stated that future wars will be completely unmanned and will be fought with advanced military drones.
“Today, there are about 13,000 manned fighter jets in the world. But in the coming years, all these platforms will gradually become unmanned. Even if this replacement is not like a drone from a fighter plane, that is, a fighter jet would be replaced by not one drone, but by deploying 3 to 5 drone platforms. The direction is clear, wars will now be in the hands of machines instead of humans,” Bayraktar said.
Turkey emerging as global drone powerhouse
Baykar Defense, once a small drones maker, has emerged as one of the world’s fastest growing defense manufacturers in recent years, with its battle-tested Bayraktar TB2 drone now recognized as a formidable aerial force after its performance in Syria, Russia-Ukraine war, and the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict.
Currently, Baykar Defense is developing Bayraktar TB3 drone, the new and advanced successor to the Bayraktar TB2 killer drone, as well as the AKINCI and the ambitious KIZILELMA drone project.
Haluk Bayraktar, who is married to Sümeyye Erdoğan– the daughter of Recep Tayyip Erdogan– asserted that Turkey’s defense industry is growing at a rapid pace and his company has the capacity to produce 250 Bayraktar TB2 drones each year. Baykar is also working to build 50 AKINCI UCAVs per year, and work is underway to the double the manufacturing capacity for Bayraktar TB3 and KIZILELMA UCAVs, Haluk said.
What is the Kizilelma project and why it could change future warfare?
The Kizilelma UCAV is arguably Baykar’s most ambitious drone project till date. The Kizilelma, which is being developed by Baykar Defense under Turkey’s broader defense program, Project MIUS, is a jet-powered, single-engine, low-observable, carrier-capable unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV).
Designed with advanced AI and autonomous flight capabilities, including autonomous take-off and landing on carriers, station-controlled missions, and even autonomous dogfighting, Kizilelma has semi-stealth capabilities due to a low radar cross-section, and boasts a service ceiling for 13,716 meters (45,000 feet), and an operational altitude of (7,620 meters) 25,000 feet.
The Kizilelma UCAV is designed to operate from aircraft carriers, including short-runway carriers, and can carry various types of armaments, including missiles, laser-guided munitions, long-range cruise missiles, with its stated payload capacity of 1.5 tonnes.
The UCAV can reach a maximum speed of Mach 0.9, and can Mach 0.6, according to details.
Haluk Bayraktar described the Kizilelma as an independent fighter rather than a wingman (support drones that accompany fighter jets), which could replace manned fighters in the near future.
Notably, an advanced UCAV like Kizilelma drone costs around $5 million to $10 million, significantly cheaper than a fighter jet, which can run to $100 million- $150 million for a 5th-gen aircraft like the F-35. Additionally, the maintenance costs of UCAVs are much lower than fighter planes, making them an enticing option for countries with lower defence budgets.
Why India should be concerned?
During the recent India-Pakistan conflict, Pakistani forces launched more than 400 drones, most of them Turkish made towards India, but all of them were successfully shot down by India’s layered air defense system. The Pakistani drones included the Turkish Bayraktar TB2s, Byker YIHA III kamikaze drones, Songatri and eYatri loitering munitions, but every single one was shot down with100 percent accuracy by India’s homegrown Akashteer air defence system, according to Indian armed forces.
However, the drone barrage by Pakistan provided a glimpse of how a future India-Pakistan war would be fought, and experts stress that India must develop an indigenous drone manufacturing industry to prepare for such a scenario.