"Hayk's Arrow" Armenian Strategic CenterMembershipBaykar · Twin-engine armed UAV
AKINCI is Baykar’s twin-engine armed UAV family. The company describes reconnaissance, surveillance and several mission configurations. This profile follows the airframe family and its variants together, while separating published performance from dated first-flight, service and industrial-cooperation milestones. Published carrying capacity and endurance do not establish that every configuration achieves both simultaneously.[5]
Published manufacturer figures describe the stated configuration. They are not independently verified performance results; variants and operating conditions can differ.
Baykar’s November 2021 announcement identifies AI-450 engines on AKINCI and agreements with Ivchenko-Progress for AI-322F supply and AI-25TLT integration for MİUS, later named KIZILELMA. A Motor Sich MS500 agreement concerned an alternative under development. The contracts do not establish identical engines or completed deliveries across all aircraft.[221]
Baykar reported a TB2 firing test on 5 November 2020 using ASELSAN CATS designation and an inert MAM-L. ASELSAN’s June 2024 newsletter describes ASELFLIR-500 tests on TB2 and AKINCI. These announcements document Turkish sensor integration on named aircraft, not the sensor configuration of every export customer’s fleet.[224][225]
ASELSAN’s November 2025 newsletter dates AKINCI’s first integrated MURAD flight to February 2025 and KIZILELMA’s to October 2025. The month-level dates are retained. Radar flights establish an integration stage; they do not by themselves establish operational acceptance of every aircraft or all advertised radar modes.[226]
Kale identifies KTJ-1750 with ÇAKIR and KTJ-3200 variants with SOM and ATMACA. Baykar lists ÇAKIR among AKINCI’s integrated weapons. This is a missile supply-chain link; the missile’s engine is separate from the UAV’s own powerplant.[227][232]
Baykar dates AKINCI’s first MAM-C, MAM-L and MAM-T firing trial to 22 April 2021 and describes the test rounds as inert. Later integration lists should not be projected backwards onto this first trial or treated as evidence that every advertised store was fired that day.[231]
Baykar’s October 2026 report lists MAM variants, TOLUN, TEBER, guidance kits, ÇAKIR, EREN and SUNGUR among integrated stores. It dates the first MGK firing to 8 October. The aircraft also carried ALPAGUT, but the report does not describe an ALPAGUT firing in that test. A combined list is not proof of each customer’s operational loadout.[232]
Baykar reports KEMANKEŞ 1 tests against airborne targets on 28 June 2025, an EREN air-target test on 21 February 2026 and a SUNGUR test on 16 September 2026. These are distinct manufacturer-reported firing events against test targets. They establish neither combat victories nor universal operational availability of an air-to-air package.[235][233][234]
Baykar’s payload index associates KUZGUN-SS and other SAGE stores with AKINCI; an earlier AKINCI brochure describes SOM-A and other weapons in future-tense language. These sources support advertised compatibility or plans. They do not supply a verified date of a KUZGUN-SS or SOM-A firing, delivery or operational clearance from AKINCI.[236][237]
Baykar’s March 2025 account records a maiden flight on 6 December 2019 and Turkish service entry on 29 August 2021. These describe different programme stages. Its cumulative-hour milestone remains an attributed manufacturer statement, rather than an independent audit of aircraft numbers or operational readiness.[11]
The same account describes continued work on AKINCI C and links the programme to Saudi cooperation. The selected Saudi record concerns localization agreements; it does not establish a completed production line, delivered quantities or acceptance of every planned variant.[11][22]
SPA documents a SAMI–Baykar localization agreement in August 2023 and separate component memoranda with ASELSAN and Roketsan. The record concerns industrial agreements and does not establish completed localization, delivered quantities or an operating factory.[22]
| Country | Aircraft programmes | Documented stage / Evidence status | Published quantity / unit | Contract / agreement date | Notes & sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azerbaijan | Bayraktar AKINCI | Dated official delivery/service evidenceDocumented record | Quantity not established by the selected evidence | Not established in selected sources | The presidency records an AKINCI flyover and recent service integration during the 9 February 2024 facility visit; aircraft totals are not stated.[149] |
| Burkina Faso | Bayraktar TB2Bayraktar AKINCI | Dated official delivery/service evidenceDocumented record | About 12 aircraft in a mixed handover; model split unpublished | Not established in selected sources | The presidency documents a mixed TB2/AKINCI handover on 8 April 2024. Its roughly dozen aircraft must not be treated as twelve of each model.[188] |
| Ethiopia | Bayraktar AKINCI | Reported relationship; verification qualifiedReported; qualification retained | Quantity not established by the selected evidence | Not established in selected sources | Janes reports the Ethiopian defence force’s January 2024 induction announcement. No quantity is inferred from photographs or aircraft serial numbers.[184] |
| Indonesia | Bayraktar TB3Bayraktar AKINCI | Agreement announced; completion not establishedDocumented record | Quantity not established by the selected evidence | Not established in selected sources | Republikorp describes the 2025 joint-venture agreement for local TB3 and AKINCI production. Industrial cooperation does not prove a completed assembly line or delivered fleet.[200] |
| Kyrgyzstan | Bayraktar TB2Bayraktar AKINCIAKSUNGUR | Reported relationship; verification qualifiedReported; qualification retained | Quantity not established by the selected evidence | Not established in selected sources | Reporting of the October 2023 presidential visit identifies acquired AKINCI and AKSUNGUR aircraft, alongside the earlier TB2 relationship; totals remain undisclosed.[177] |
| Libya | Bayraktar AKINCI | Dated official delivery/service evidenceDocumented record | Quantity not established by the selected evidence | Not established in selected sources | The UN’s 2024 Libya report identifies an AKINCI carrying Libyan markings. Presence is documented; a complete acquisition total is not.[182] |
| Mali | Bayraktar AKINCI | Reported relationship; verification qualifiedReported; qualification retained | Quantity not established by the selected evidence | Not established in selected sources | TurDef reports Mali’s AKINCI acquisition in November 2024. No complete delivered fleet is inferred from that initial report.[187] |
| Morocco | Bayraktar AKINCI | Reported relationship; verification qualifiedReported; qualification retained | Quantity not established by the selected evidence | Not established in selected sources | Morocco World News reports a delivered AKINCI batch in February 2025; the selected report does not establish the complete order or current fleet.[180] |
| Pakistan | Bayraktar TB2Bayraktar AKINCI | Reported relationship; verification qualifiedReported; qualification retained | Quantity not established by the selected evidence | Not established in selected sources | Crew training is documented by Baykar; secondary reporting traces both types to the January 2024 induction ceremony. No official fleet total is assigned.[174][175] |
| Saudi Arabia | Bayraktar AKINCI | Agreement announced; completion not establishedDocumented record | Quantity not established by the selected evidence | Not established in selected sources | SPA documents the August 2023 SAMI–Baykar localisation agreement. It does not disclose aircraft numbers or establish a completed operating production line.[22] |
| Sudan | Bayraktar TB2Bayraktar AKINCI | Documented imagery assessment; procurement terms unresolvedDocumented record | Quantity not established by the selected evidence | Not established in selected sources | CIR’s October 2026 original imagery assessment identifies TB2 and AKINCI with the Sudanese Armed Forces. It does not establish the alleged intermediary contract quantities.[208] |
| United Arab Emirates | Bayraktar AKINCI | Dated official delivery/service evidenceDocumented record | Quantity not established by the selected evidence | Not established in selected sources | Baykar’s 2024 delivery account explicitly names AKINCI deliveries to the UAE. The selected manufacturer statement does not disclose a total order quantity.[176] |
Baykar’s report published the following day dates the first MGK firing to 8 October.[232]
The presidency describes recently received AKINCI aircraft, the UAV Academy and hangars, without disclosing a fleet total.[149]
SPA reported a SAMI–Baykar localization agreement and separate NCMS memoranda with ASELSAN and Roketsan. Agreements for localization do not prove completed local production or aircraft deliveries.[22]
Baykar’s March 2025 retrospective release dates Turkish service entry to 29 August 2021. The statement is attributed to the manufacturer.[11]
Baykar reports trials with inert MAM-C, MAM-L and MAM-T rounds.[231]