ROME — An Italian M-346 jet trainer has controlled a Baykar Kizilelma drone in flight during a loyal wingman trial in Turkey.
The Leonardo test jet flew alongside the Turkish drone at Baykar’s flight and test center in Çorlu, Leonardo said in a statement.
The flight followed the signing of a drone cooperation deal between Italy’s Leonardo and Baykar last year, which envisaged the construction in Italy of Baykar drones with Leonardo systems on board.
The flight test campaign in Turkey involved two Leonardo M-346 jets: a Leonardo owned M-346 Fighter Attack Variant, with an Italian Air Force trainer acting as chase aircraft - as well as the Kizilelma.
Following an autonomous taxi and take-off, the Kizilelma autonomously linked to the M-346 using “an advanced radio frequency data exchange system” to synchronize data, Leonardo said.
During the test flight, the two aircraft undertook a series of missions to test algorithms, tactics and procedures developed by Leonardo in Italy.
“Kizilelma’s advanced autonomy capabilities greatly simplified the integration process, allowing for seamless implementation and rapid deployment,” Leonardo said.
“Leonardo and Baykar set a major milestone in the development of Crewed/UnCrewed Teaming (CUC-T) and swarm tactics capabilities,” the firm claimed.
“The refinement and maturity of AI technology, algorithms and collaborative procedures will enable the uncrewed systems to incrementally shift from remote piloting to autonomy, with the aim of reducing pilot workload and increasing mission efficiency while maintaining full control and decision-making,” it added.
“New tests are planned in the coming months, with increasing complexity and additional functions,” the firm added.
Baykar contributed Smart Fleet Autonomy capabilities integrated into the crewed/uncrewed teaming algorithms using its own software and hardware infrastructure.
As a partner on the GCAP fighter program, Leonardo will be seeking to sharpen its skills in deploying Loyal Wingman drones - an envisaged key aspect of GCAP operations.
Another ambitious European effort to integrate crewed fighters with collaborative uncrewed systems had been the Franco-German-Spanish FCAS program, which envisioned remote carrier loyal wingman drones operating alongside a next-generation manned fighter.
The FCAS Next Generation Fighter component was terminated in June 2026 after Germany and France failed to resolve industrial disagreements, although other FCAS elements such as a Combat Cloud are expected to continue.
Devrim Yaylali in Istanbul contributed to this report.
Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.
