ROK’s Defence Acquisition and Programme Administration (DAPA) Minister, Seok Jong-gun, visited Baykar’s Özdemir Bayraktar National Technology Centre.

Baykar announced the important visit on the social media platform X, sharing a photo of the DAPA delegation taken in front of the Kızılelma unmanned fighter’s mock-up and the CTO Selçuk Bayraktar gifting a scaled model of Kızılelma with the flag of ROK to H.E. Seok Jong-gun.

Baykar does not give details regarding the meetings with delegations most of the time, but photos shared in announcements can give hints about the subject. In the case of this visit, Kızılelma might be among the subjects.

ROK’s Projection of MUM-T in Air Combat

ROK revealed its family of UAVs for air combat-oriented MUM-T during FIA2024. The components consist of future variants of the KF-21 Boramae fighter jet and FA-50 LCA upgraded with UAV command-control capability, AAP remote carrier UAV, and a UCAV that will seemingly act as a munitions truck and remote sensor with an onboard EOTS (A similar concept to XQ-58A).

Italy, a Potential Customer for Kızılelma

Kızılelma’s first export customer might be Italy, following the joint venture’s formation by Baykar and Leonardo to cooperate on UAV/UCAV platforms.

Leonardo, the CEO, previously stated that Kızılelma could become the loyal wingman for the GCAP programme. In many ways, Kızılelma can be likened to a scaled-down fifth-generation fighter due to provisions for multiple sensors (AESA radar, IRST, EOTS...), high agility, and low observability.

Author: Kaan Azman

Editor: Özgür Ekşi