Türkiye unveils new kamikaze swarm drone as UAV capabilities expand

Türkiye’s defense industry introduced a new fixed-wing first-person-view (FPV) kamikaze drone and successfully tested an air-launch integration with another unmanned aerial vehicle, as the country adds new systems and operational concepts to its growing fleet of mini UAVs.

The new system is a product of Skydagger, which began producing FPV kamikaze drones last year and has since built a family of rotary-wing systems. It has now expanded into fixed-wing designs.

Haluk Bayraktar, general manager of the drone powerhouse Baykar, said the new system has been named Skydagger Toyca-05, saying it’s Türkiye’s newest kamikaze swarm UAV.

A video on his social media platform X showed the fixed-wing drone being launched from a catapult and performing aggressive maneuvers.

The Toyca-05 features a 70-kilometer (43-mile range), a 5-kilogram high-explosive warhead, mesh swarm communication, anti-jamming protection and both FPV and fully autonomous flight modes, according to Baykar.

Skydagger has the capacity to manufacture more than 30,000 units of the fixed-wing drone annually.

The company separately also released footage of a milestone test for the Turkish defense industry: the successful air-launch of the Skydagger 7 FPV kamikaze drone from Baykar’s Bayraktar KALKAN VTOL UAV.

The test marked the integration of two different UAV systems operating jointly.

The Kalkan VTOL drone, typically used for reconnaissance, surveillance and intelligence missions, can also serve as an aerial launch platform for smaller munitions or kamikaze drones.

This configuration can significantly increase the range and endurance of the deployed drone.

Source: Daily Sabah