Bayraktar KIZILELMA, developed entirely with Baykar’s own resources and indigenously developed, has tested another critical capability that will propel Turkey to a new level of aviation. Development activities for the national unmanned combat aircraft are progressing as planned, and the integration of the TOYGUN Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS), developed entirely domestically by ASELSAN, onto the platform has been successfully completed. TOYGUN, ASELSAN’s most advanced infrared product, will provide Bayraktar KIZILELMA with a significant advantage in the field.
SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE IN FLIGHT TESTS
Last week, the system demonstrated superior performance in two separate flight tests conducted at the AKINCI Flight Training and Test Center in Çorlu. The tests successfully verified stable image production at different altitudes and speeds, long-range tracking stability on moving targets, and the high accuracy of laser targeting functions. The system was observed to provide uninterrupted data exchange with Kızılelma’s onboard mission computer and maintain its performance even in challenging environmental conditions. The test results also demonstrated that all technical criteria paving the way for serial integration were met.
These tests represent the world’s first application of “embedded EOTS” technology on an unmanned combat aircraft. While platforms like the F-16 carry targeting systems as external pods, concealing this system within the fuselage of the Bayraktar KIZILELMA is critical to the aircraft’s low radar signature (low visibility). The TOYGUN EOTS enables the Bayraktar KIZILELMA to maintain this strategic advantage while enabling advanced targeting.
This advanced electro-optical targeting system, concealed within the fuselage, is found only on 5th-generation platforms like the US-produced F-35 in manned aircraft. With the successful integration of this technology into the Bayraktar KIZILELMA, Turkey has become one of only three countries in the world to possess this critical capability.
Developed with a specialized engineering approach for the Bayraktar KIZILELMA, the TOYGUN incorporates optimizations specific to the unmanned combat concept. The system boasts broad-spectrum scanning capabilities that contribute to 360° mission awareness. Its high-resolution IR (infrared) imaging allows it to detect strategic targets and moving land/naval elements at long range. It also enhances Bayraktar KIZILELMA’s autonomous capabilities with AI-powered target tracking and automatic target classification algorithms.
Thanks to this capability, Bayraktar KIZILELMA will be able to penetrate deep into enemy territory without losing its low-visibility advantage. It will be able to detect its target without being detected by radar, designate it with lasers, and destroy targets using nationally produced munitions.
From its inception to the present, Baykar has carried out all its projects with its own resources. Since the beginning of its UAV R&D process in 2003, it has generated 83% of its revenue from exports. With $1.8 billion in exports in 2023, Baykar ranked among the top 10 companies in Turkey with the highest exports across all sectors. Baykar, the largest company in the global unmanned aerial vehicle export market, continued its global success in 2024, generating 90% of its revenue from exports, achieving $1.8 billion in exports.
Baykar, which ranked among the top 10 exporters across all sectors in Turkey in 2023 and 2024 and received the Export Champions Award, became the export leader of the defense and aerospace sector in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, according to data from the Presidency of Defense Industries and the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM). Baykar accounted for one-third of the sector’s exports in 2023 and one-quarter of the total defense and aerospace exports in 2024, placing Turkey at the forefront of the global armed UAV export market. Baykar, the world’s largest unmanned aerial vehicle company, has signed export agreements with 37 countries in total, including 36 countries for the Bayraktar TB2 SİHA and 16 countries for the Bayraktar AKINCI TİHA.
