TSAMTO, December 21. The Turkish company Baykar TECH on its Twitter page announced the beginning of flight tests of a prototype of the Kizilelma jet strike unmanned aerial vehicle.
The first flight of the Kizilelma UAV took place on December 14 at the company's test center in Chorlu (northwestern province of Tekirdag). It was preceded by a successfully completed stage of ground tests, during which all the systems of the device were checked, and the UAV autonomously performed taxiing and take-off on the runway.
As reported by TSAMTO, Baykar started the first conceptual studies of the MIUS UAV (tour. Muharip Insansiz Ucak Sistemi) in 2013, however, full-scale development of the project began only in July 2021, when the first render image of the UAV was published and some information about its characteristics was disclosed. The UAV is planned to be used to perform various tasks, including reconnaissance, direct air support, suppression and defeat of enemy air defenses, as well as air combat.
The assembly of the first prototype of the device began in March 2022. In September 2022, Baykar Technical Director Selchuk Bayraktar announced the completion of the assembly of the second prototype.
The inconspicuous Kizilelma supersonic jet UAV, made according to the "duck" aerodynamic scheme, is equipped with one jet engine, will be able to carry about 1.5 tons of payload in the inner compartment and on the underwing suspension nodes. The device is equipped with a tricycle landing gear, two front horizontal control surfaces and two inclined vertical stabilizers.
It is assumed that the flight range of the UAV with a maximum take–off weight of 6000 kg will be 500 nautical miles, the practical ceiling is 10668 m, the flight duration is 5 hours, the maximum speed is 0.64 M.
It is assumed that the first versions of the UAV, Kizilelma-A, will be equipped with a Ukrainian AI-25TLT turbojet engine, but later it is planned to assemble the Kizilelma-B device with AI-322F with an afterburner. It is also planned to build a Kizilelma-C UAV with two AI-322F engines.
The UAV is planned to be equipped with a radar with an active phased array antenna with electronic scanning. The exchange of information will be provided both in the area of direct radio visibility and beyond. It is planned to use guided missiles of the air-to-air, air-to-surface class and cruise missiles of Turkish production as weapons of the UAV. To reduce radar visibility, the device will carry ammunition in the internal armament compartment. The placement of ammunition on the underwing suspension units is also possible when used in operations where radar visibility is not important.
It is assumed that the design and characteristics of the new device will allow it to take off and land on board ships similar to the landing helicopter ships docks (DVKD) of the Anadolu class. According to the company, thanks to the use of artificial intelligence, Kizilelma will interact with manned combat aircraft as a "reliable wingman".
