M-346 Military Jet Leads Baykar UCAV in Autonomous Formation Flight | Aviation International News

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

M-346 Leads Baykar UCAV in Autonomous Formation Flight

Italian jet and Turkish drone carry out K-Swarm airborne trial

Kizilelma drone taking off from runway — The uncrewed Kizilelma drone performed an autonomous takeoff before formating on the M-346. © Baykar

By Charlotte Bailey • News Reporter

June 23, 2026

Italy's Leonardo and Turkish group Baykar have performed a series of what the former terms “joint autonomous formation flights” as part of the K-Swarm program, aimed at designing and developing interoperability between crewed and uncrewed aircraft. The recent formation trial alongside a crewed aircraft built on a December 2025 milestone that saw two Kizilelma drones perform an autonomous close formation flight.

As part of the first round of testing, conducted in Turkey in May, Baykar’s Kizilelma unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) flew alongside a Leonardo M-346 advanced jet trainer. After an autonomous taxi and takeoff, the Kizilelma “autonomously rejoined the M-346 using Smart Fleet Autonomy algorithms developed by Baykar’s hardware-in-the-loop laboratory, enabling the M346 to subsequently assume full control of the unmanned aircraft,” explained Leonardo.

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