Akinci UAV shoots down aerial target with Eren missile

Roketsan unveiled the Eren multi-purpose munition at IDEF 2025. (Anadolu via Getty Images)

Turkish company Baykar Technologies announced on 21 February that one of its Bayraktar Akıncı unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) had successfully used Roketsan's Eren multi-purpose munition to shoot down an aerial target.

It released a video showing an Akıncı taking off from its Çorlu facility carrying two Erens and launching one. Infrared footage seemingly filmed by its seeker showed it closing in on an aerial target, with another camera showing the impact over water from above.

Roketsan declared this was the first time an armed UAV had carried out an air-to-air interception even though Baykar announced on 30 November 2025 that one of its Kızılelma prototypes had become the first UAV to use a radar-guided missile to shoot down an aerial target. The missile used was the Gökdoğan developed by Türkiye's Tübitak Defence Industries Research and Development Institute.

Roketsan unveiled the Eren during the IDEF show held in Istanbul in July 2025, describing it as a high-speed loitering munition that can be launched from air, land, and sea platforms against slow UAVs and lightly armoured ground targets. It is powered by a small-turbojet engine – which according to Roketsan gives it a 100 km range and a 15 minute endurance – and has an imaging infrared seeker that enables it to autonomously identify and engage targets.

Baykar also announced on 21 February that an Akıncı had carried out flight tests with Aselsan's Murad radar, which is key to giving the UAV an air-to-air capability. It released a video showing the Akıncı PT3 (third prototype) taking off from Çorlu, and then technicians looking at a radar screen that showed other aircraft and seemingly weather patterns at the same time.