Kızılelma takes to the sky!
Wednesday 14 December 2022 marked the true first flight of the single jet-engine powered unmanned fighter aircraft Bayraktar Kızılelma-A.
The indigenously developed Unmanned Combat Aerial System (UCAS) is said to have low-observable characteristics and is designed to operate from the Multi-Purpose Amphibious Assault ship (LHD) TCG Anadolu (L-400).
The Kızılelma is developed under the MIUS project (Muharip İnsansız Uçak Sistemi - Unmanned Combat Aircraft System). The Kızılelma-A UCAS Powered by a Ukrainian Motor Sich derivate of the Ivchenko AI-25 engine, whereas the future version ( Kızılelma-B ) will be powered by a more powerful AI-322F engine and is designed to be supersonic.
The still-to-be-developed Kızılelma-C will have two of these engines. The first prototype that took to the skies, carries the fake registration TC-ÖZB to honor Özdemir Bayraktar who died in 2021.
The same aircraft completed its high-speed taxi tests just three weeks ago, on 20 November. During those tests, the Kızılelma briefly lost touch with the ground and flew low over the runway of the Bayraktar test centre in Çorlu. For the purists, this might be regarded as the first flight.
Photos via Baykar