- Nov 30, 2025: Kizil Elma makes history — first unmanned fighter to kill a jet target with BVR missile, all-Turkish tech.
- Turkey did in <6 years what others take decades: vision + leadership + vertical integration.
- India stunned: “We need the Turkish model” now echoes from Delhi to DRDO — wake-up call received.
On November 30, 2025, the sky over Sinop, Turkey, witnessed a historic milestone: for the first time ever, an unmanned combat aircraft — the Bayraktar Kizil Elma — shot down a high-speed jet-powered target using a beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (Gökdoğan). Detection was handled entirely by the indigenous MURAD AESA radar. No pilot on board. No foreign technology in the critical chain.
This was not “just another successful test.” It was proof that a nation of 85 million people, which barely two decades ago depended almost entirely on imports for advanced weapons, can now develop a stealthy, supersonic UCAV with air-superiority capabilities in under six years from concept to combat-proven kill.And India is watching — with a mix of admiration and frustration.
Days after the test, one of India’s most followed defense analysis accounts, Alpha Defense, posted a viral thread that pulled no punches: “People see KIZILELMA and think it became a success overnight. Reality: vision + leadership… Sometimes the missing tech is not hardware — it’s leadership.” The post ended with a half-joking line: “If possible, import Selçuk Bayraktar.”The comparison stings. At Aero India 2019, Indian industry proudly displayed 1.2 kN and 1.56 kN turbofan engines for future combat drones. Six years later, those engines are still not flight-certified. Meanwhile, Indian startups are running far more powerful engines… on bicycles, for lack of serious funding and systemic support.The Turkish lesson reaching New Delhi is loud and clear, and it is being repeated in think tanks and MoD corridors:
- Long-term political vision (Kizil Elma began as a sketch in 2013 when almost no one believed in it).
- Concentrated technical leadership capable of making fast decisions (Selçuk Bayraktar and Haluk Bayraktar).
- Ruthless vertical integration — Baykar produces 93% of the platform’s value in-house, from radar to missiles.
- High risk tolerance and rapid iteration — first flight in December 2022, only 18 months after the full-scale mock-up.
India, which aims to become the world’s third-largest military power by 2047, now faces a mirror. Flagship programs like the AMCA fifth-generation fighter, the Ghatak stealth UCAV, and new drone engines are moving at what increasingly feels like glacial speed compared Turkish momentum.In recent months, the phrase “Turkish model” has started appearing more and more in Indian strategic circles: aggressive privatization of major defense programs, creation of true national champions with operational freedom, and long-term funding insulated from election cycles.
Kizil Elma is no longer just an aircraft. For India, it has become a case study — and a wake-up call — of what an emerging power can achieve when it truly decides to believe in itself and act accordingly. Worth to note: according to Leanardo CEO, Kizil Elma will be produced in Italy following the Leonardo-Baykar jv.
