In June 2026, Leonardo and Baykar announced the completion of the first live flight trials of K-SWARM, the joint program through which the two companies are developing crewed-uncrewed teaming (CUC-T)[1] — the ability of a crewed aircraft to command an uncrewed combat drone in flight, sharing data, and delegating maneuvers between the two.[2] The system uses Baykar’s Smart Fleet Autonomy algorithms and Leonardo’s command-and-control avionics.[3] The trials, held the previous month at Baykar’s flight and test center in Çorlu, Türkiye, paired Leonardo’s M-346 Fighter Attack aircraft—with an Italian Air Force T-346A serving as chase aircraft—and Baykar’s Kızılelma uncrewed combat aircraft.[4]

After an autonomous take-off and formation rejoin, the M-346 took control of the Kızılelma, validating a set of CUC-T functions built on artificial intelligence (AI), secure data exchange, and autonomous mission execution. Air forces worldwide are moving quickly to pair next-generation fighter jets with unmanned “loyal wingmen”, but the Turkish-Italian trial ranks among the first to go airborne.[5] While the trials were read, understandably, as another milestone in manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T), their significance extends well beyond the successful handover of an uncrewed aircraft to a crewed one.

A month later, at the Farnborough International Airshow, Leonardo and Baykar announced that their joint venture, LBA Systems, had reached full operational readiness and unveiled Astore Levante, the first Europeanized version of the Bayraktar TB-3 built around Leonardo mission systems and payloads.[6] Read together, the two announcements place K-SWARM in context, not as an isolated technology demonstrator but the operational face of an industrial partnership moving fast from platform integration to full collaborative combat ecosystems. It also establishes new operational, doctrinal, and industrial baselines for future combat air systems.[7]

That is why K-SWARM matters for the wider debate on airpower.[8] The next generation of air combat will increasingly rest on integrating crewed and uncrewed systems through AI, secure communications and resilient industrial partnerships, and the Leonardo–Baykar cooperation is one of the first concrete examples of how that transition is taking shape.

Beyond industrial cooperation: the Leonardo–Baykar partnership

The K-SWARM trials did not come out of nowhere. They are the operational output of an industrial partnership that has moved quickly over the past eighteen months, well beyond the conventional supplier relationship. Where many defense-industrial tie-ups stop at licensed production or technology transfer, Leonardo and Baykar have built one that now covers platform integration, mission systems, AI, and collaborative combat architectures.

The first step was LBA Systems, the 50-50 joint venture headquartered in Italy, which combines Baykar’s expertise in developing and manufacturing advanced uncrewed aerial systems with Leonardo’s strengths in mission systems, sensors, avionics, certification, and systems integration.[9] The partnership goes well beyond a single program: it reflects a long-term strategy to build integrated unmanned capabilities for European and international markets.

Farnborough reinforced that reading. The declaration of LBA Systems’ full operational readiness, alongside the unveiling of Astore Levante, showed the partnership moving from organizational structures to tangible products, with production already underway at Leonardo sites in Italy.[10]^{, [11]} More telling is the division of labor behind it: Baykar supplies mature, combat-proven autonomous platforms and manufacturing scale, while Leonardo adapts those platforms to European operational requirements, certification standards, and export markets.[12]

This is why K-SWARM carries weight beyond the flight test itself. The program is not just testing whether an M-346 can command a Kızılelma in formation; it is testing whether complementary technological competencies can work inside a common architecture. Seen this way, the flight campaign serves LBA Systems’ broader goal: interoperable, AI-enabled, cyber-resilient capabilities that can grow into full crewed-uncrewed combat solutions rather than remaining a set of individual platforms. For European air forces looking for scalable force multipliers and an affordable route into collaborative combat, this kind of industrial integration may end up mattering as much as the aircraft themselves.

K-SWARM: demonstrating manned–unmanned teaming (MUM-T)

K-SWARM is considerably more than a demonstration of an M-346 controlling a Kızılelma drone. It validated an operational architecture that integrates crewed and uncrewed platforms through AI, secure communications, and distributed mission management—moving past the demonstration of single technologies and into the testing of an ecosystem in which aircraft, software, autonomy, and human decision-making function as a single operational entity.

The trials, held in May, followed exactly that systems-oriented logic.[13] After an autonomous taxi, take-off, and rejoin maneuver carried out through Baykar’s Smart Fleet Autonomy algorithms—developed at the company’s Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) Laboratory, the Kızılelma came under the control of the two-seat M-346 Fighter Attack. Rather than flying the drone directly, the M-346 crew issued mission commands through a newly developed onboard computer architecture, letting the unmanned combat aircraft (UCAV) execute position changes, separations, rejoins, and formation maneuvers on its own.[14] Throughout the flight, a radio-frequency data exchange system protected by Leonardo’s GCC Tactical Platform kept the two aircraft synchronized while ensuring cyber resilience and secure command-and-control.

Air forces around the world are racing to put the MUM-T concept into practice. In 2025, a pilot flying an F-22 Raptor briefly took control of a General Atomics MQ-20 Avenger drone from the cockpit,[15] while the Royal Australian Air Force had a single operator aboard an E-7A Wedgetail direct two Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat drones in a comparable interoperability trial,[16] adding to a short but growing list of live crewed-uncrewed teaming demonstrations worldwide. Taken individually, none of these technological components is entirely new. Autonomous take-off and landing, secure datalinks and AI-assisted flight management have all been demonstrated separately before. What distinguishes K-SWARM is its integration into a single operational workflow built around crewed-uncrewed teaming. Rather than validating isolated capabilities, Leonardo and Baykar tested how autonomy, mission systems, cyber protection, avionics, and human supervision interact under real flight conditions—and the move from months of digital engineering and simulation at Leonardo’s PC2LAB facilities and the M-346 Full Mission Simulator to live airborne operations is arguably the program’s most significant achievement so far.

As argued in a previous insight,[17] next-generation airpower will increasingly depend on the ability to orchestrate multiple autonomous assets while cutting pilot workload and preserving human authority over lethal decisions.[18] K-SWARM offers an early demonstration of exactly that model. Rather than acting as a remote pilot, the M-346 crew took on the role of mission commander, delegating individual maneuvers to the UCAV while keeping overall command authority—a human-in-the-loop architecture that increasingly defines advanced collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) programs worldwide, where the goal is not to pair a fighter with a drone but to let a single crew manage a growing network of autonomous collaborators.

Equally important is the choice of platforms. The M-346 was not picked simply because it was available: its open architecture, advanced avionics, and two-seat configuration make it particularly suited to CUC-T. The Kızılelma, for its part, is a different animal from the medium-altitude surveillance drones (MALE) of earlier UAV generations. Designed as a high-performance, jet-powered UCAV able to carry precision-guided munitions, air-to-air missiles, and advanced sensors,[19] it is the type of autonomous combat asset likely to accompany future fighters into increasingly contested environments and challenging missions. Together, the two platforms hint at how collaborative combat may evolve technologically and at how existing fourth- and fifth-generation fighter fleets could start adopting MUM-T concepts well before sixth-generation aircraft enter service.

Kızılelma, MUM-T, and Türkiye’s defense-industrial strategy

The significance of the M-346–Kızılelma pairing from the Turkish side of the K-SWARM partnership is that this is not simply an additional flight-test program for Baykar. Instead, it connects Kızılelma to Türkiye’s broader effort to build an integrated airpower ecosystem in which crewed fighters, uncrewed aircraft, sensors, weapons, and command-and-control networks operate as a coordinated force. In this respect, it advances the trajectory identified in the earlier study that Türkiye’s CCA model is based on rapid iteration, domestic systems integration, and the use of uncrewed platforms to complement, rather than replace, scarce and expensive crewed aircraft.[20]

This trajectory is the product of two decades of evolution in Türkiye’s UAV sector. Early systems were largely intended to reduce dependence on foreign intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) assets. The much-famed Bayraktar TB-2 subsequently combined persistent surveillance with precision strike at comparatively low cost with home-grown payloads, while operational use and exports created a feedback loop between manufacturers, the armed forces, and international clients. The two-engine Akıncı then moved the ecosystem into a heavier class, integrating larger payloads, advanced sensors, and a broader weapons set. The naval-capable TB-3 extended it toward shipborne operations on Türkiye’s first Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD), TCG Anadolu. Kızılelma represents the next step as a jet-powered, low-observable UCAV designed for carrier-compatible, higher-speed air-to-air missions in autonomous formation and cooperation with crewed fighters.

Yet, the more important evolution in the UCAV ecosystem lies behind the airframes. Türkiye has gradually assembled a domestic network that brings together Baykar and Turkish Aerospace companies with defense manufacturer Aselsan radars and electronic systems, Tübitak SAGE, and Roketsan munitions, national datalinks, mission computers, ground-control infrastructure, and a growing software base. Kızılelma’s autonomous formation trial and its integration of Aselsan’s Murad AESA radar with the Gökdoğan air-to-air missile demonstrated how these components are being combined into an indigenous sensor-to-shooter chain.[21] K-SWARM adds another layer by showing that the same platform can be integrated with an allied country’s crewed aircraft, avionics, and a cyber-protected data-exchange architecture. Therefore, the goal is not technological isolation in the sense of national autarky, but control over critical design choices combined with selective interoperability.

This is where K-SWARM fits operationally into Türkiye’s wider airpower strategy. The Turkish Air Force must sustain a large but aging F-16 fleet while preparing for its indigenous sixth-generation aircraft Kaan, modernizing its training and light-combat architecture through Hürjet, and expanding unmanned combat capabilities across land and maritime domains. MUM-T offers a way to connect these various objectives and timelines. A crewed aircraft acting as mission commander could delegate sensing, decoy, electronic warfare, or strike tasks to Kızılelma swarm formations, increasing combat mass and reducing exposure in contested airspace. Leonardo-Baykar live trials are all the more important because they moved this concept beyond autonomous drone-to-drone coordination. After take-off and rejoin, the M-346 assumed control and commanded maneuvers that Kızılelma executed autonomously.[22] This points toward a modular model in which Turkish uncrewed systems could cooperate not only with national platforms but also with European and NATO-compatible aircraft and mission systems.

The industrial implications of this MUM-T concept are equally significant. Türkiye’s pursuit of strategic autonomy has historically been shaped by embargoes and political restrictions, encouraging domestic production and reducing the leverage of foreign suppliers. However, full self-sufficiency becomes more difficult and costly as weapons grow more complex.[23] The K-SWARM program illustrates a more mature approach toward strategic autonomy through selective interdependence. Baykar contributes a rapidly developed autonomous platform and manufacturing capacity; Leonardo provides certification experience, mission systems, and access to European industrial networks. Such cooperation preserves the Turkish design agency while addressing persistent bottlenecks in areas such as propulsion, high-end components, and European certification.

The same logic strengthens Türkiye’s export potential. Turkish defense and aerospace exports reached US$10.54 billion in 2025, with Europe becoming the largest destination, according to the Defense Industries Secretariat (SSB).[24] Turkish suppliers have gained ground by offering competitive prices, rapid delivery, customization, and complete packages that combine platforms, sensors, munitions, training, and sustainment. This flexibility has helped Türkiye supply nearly 40 countries, although political barriers and gaps in engines and other advanced technologies remain, particularly in the European Union due to members-only defense initiatives and resistance tied to ​broader diplomatic disputes.[25] The Leonardo–Baykar alliance can mitigate some of these constraints by making Kızılelma-derived systems more interoperable, certifiable, and politically accessible in European and other allied markets.

From Ankara’s perspective, K-SWARM links operational experimentation within the UCAV ecosystem to a broader strategy of autonomy, scale, and export-led industrial growth. Seen from Europe, however, its importance depends equally on what Leonardo and Italy intend to build around that Turkish platform.

From K-SWARM to Europe’s Future Airpower

If the Turkish dimension of K-SWARM reflects Ankara’s ambition to become one of the world’s leading developers of autonomous combat aviation, the program also says a good deal about Italy’s own vision for future airpower. The significance of the M-346–Kızılelma demonstrations is not just bilateral: it shows how Leonardo is positioning itself at the intersection of current-generation combat aviation and the collaborative combat architectures expected to define future European air forces.

In this respect, the selection of the M-346 deserves particular attention. Conceived originally as an advanced trainer, the aircraft has steadily evolved into a highly adaptable multi-role platform. Its Fighter Attack variant combines advanced avionics, an open systems architecture, and a two-seat cockpit well suited to CUC-T, letting one pilot focus on flying while the second handles mission coordination and the control of autonomous assets. That combination makes the M-346 a convenient test platform, but also a credible bridge between today’s combat aviation and tomorrow’s collaborative combat ecosystems.

This evolution is closely aligned with Leonardo’s broader strategy for the aircraft. Beyond its established role as an advanced trainer, successive upgrades—including the Block 20 standard—are pushing the M-346 further into future combat air architectures. Leonardo has already promoted the platform as a complementary training solution for sixth-generation stealth fighter programs such as the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP),[26] while expanding its operational capabilities through better sensors, mission systems and networking functions.[27] K-SWARM shows that this evolution is not confined to pilot training: it increasingly reaches into the command and management of autonomous combat systems. Leonardo’s own leadership has floated going a step further still by converting M-345 and M-346 trainer and light-fighter variants into fully uncrewed aircraft for a potential role within GCAP’s drone ecosystem—a sign that the platform’s relevance to collaborative combat could extend well beyond crewed teaming.[28]

This matters because collaborative combat should not be treated as a capability reserved for sixth-generation aircraft. Much of the current debate on loyal wingmen and CCA understandably centers on programs such as GCAP or FCAS. K-SWARM, though, shows that many of the enabling technologies such as secure networking, AI-assisted mission management, and CUC-T, can be integrated progressively into existing fleets. Platforms such as the Eurofighter Typhoon, the F-35, and upgraded fourth-generation aircraft like the F-16 Block 70-Viper may all benefit from similar architectures well before dedicated sixth-generation systems reach service.[29]

This incremental approach may prove particularly relevant for European air forces. Defense budgets remain under pressure, while the operational lessons of recent conflicts have reinforced the need for greater combat mass, distributed operations and affordable force multipliers. Rather than relying only on a limited number of increasingly sophisticated crewed-fighters, collaborative combat architectures offer a way to extend sensor coverage, increase operational persistence, and spread risk across multiple autonomous platforms without proportionally expanding pilot numbers or procurement costs. K-SWARM, in this sense, shows that the shift toward collaborative combat is not a distant aspiration but an evolutionary process that can start with the platforms already available today.

More broadly, the program reflects a wider shift underway in Europe’s defense-industrial landscape. Rather than developing future combat capabilities only through long multinational flagship programs, European industry is exploring more agile paths built around the rapid integration of mature technologies, AI and international industrial partnerships. Leonardo-Baykar cooperation is a case in point: by pairing complementary technological expertise with operational experimentation, the partnership is accelerating capabilities that would once have stayed confined to conceptual studies or future procurement cycles.

Ultimately, K-SWARM demonstrates that the future of European airpower will depend not only on new aircraft but on the ability to connect existing and future platforms into coherent operational networks. The program is more than an early demonstration of CUC-T. Rather, it is a glimpse of how Europe’s next air combat ecosystem may take shape: gradually, through the integration of AI, autonomous systems, resilient communications and industrial cooperation, well before the continent’s first operational sixth-generation fighter arrives.

Conclusion

The K-SWARM demonstrations show collaborative combat moving from conceptual discussion to operational experimentation. The successful teaming between Leonardo’s M-346 and Baykar’s Kızılelma is a significant technological milestone in its own right, but its broader significance lies in what it says about the direction of airpower. Rather than validating a single platform or function, the program demonstrated the integration of AI, secure communications, mission management systems, and human decision-making into one coherent operational architecture.

What followed reinforces this reading. The launch of LBA Systems and the unveiling of the jointly produced Astore Levante suggest K-SWARM is not an isolated technology demonstrator but part of a wider effort to turn industrial cooperation into deployable military capability. The program reflects a broader shift within the defense sector, where competitive advantage increasingly comes not just from the performance of individual aircraft, but from the ability to connect platforms, software, sensors, and autonomous systems into resilient operational ecosystems.

For both Italy and Türkiye, the cooperation offers benefits beyond bilateral industrial relations. It combines complementary technological strengths, speeds up the maturation of CUC-T concepts, and offers a practical route to integrating autonomous combat systems into existing air forces without waiting for sixth-generation fighters to enter service. At the same time, it shows how international industrial partnerships can shorten innovation cycles by combining mature platforms with fast-evolving software, AI, and mission systems.

K-SWARM is both an operational bridge and an industrial instrument for Turkish defense planners. It is intended to integrate Kızılelma with Türkiye’s current F-16 fleet and future Kaan-centered air force structure, while validating national autonomy software, sensors, datalinks, and weapons in an allied setting. The program also supports a defense-industrial strategy that combines domestic control over critical technologies with selective European partnerships to strengthen strategic autonomy, achieve production scale, and expand access to export markets.

From Italy’s perspective, K-SWARM serves a different but equally strategic purpose. Rather than supporting the development of a national autonomous combat ecosystem, the program reinforces Leonardo’s ambition to position itself as a leading European systems integrator for collaborative combat. By combining its expertise in mission systems, avionics, and certification with Baykar’s rapidly evolving autonomous platforms, Italy is helping shape a practical pathway through which existing European air forces can progressively adopt crewed-uncrewed teaming capabilities ahead of sixth-generation programs such as GCAP.

As European air forces look to increase combat mass, improve operational resilience, and respond to increasingly contested environments, programs such as K-SWARM may prove particularly significant. Rather than the final destination of collaborative combat, they offer an early sense of how the transition is likely to unfold: incrementally, through successive demonstrations, industrial partnerships, and the gradual integration of autonomous capabilities into existing force structures.

Ultimately, the importance of K-SWARM lies not simply in demonstrating that one aircraft can control another. Its significance ultimately lies in showing that the future of airpower will increasingly be defined by the ability to orchestrate networks of crewed and uncrewed systems within a shared operational ecosystem—from partnership to teaming, and from teaming to fully integrated combat ecosystems.

[1] “Manned-Unmanned Teaming,” European Security and Defence Magazine, November 7, 2019, https://euro-sd.com/2019/11/articles/15156/manned-unmanned-teaming/; “What is Manned-Unmanned Teaming?,” BAE Systems, https://www.baesystems.com/en-us/definition/what-is-manned-unmanned-teaming.

[2] “Leonardo and Baykar Set Major Milestone for Advanced Crewed/Uncrewed Capability Development with Successful First K-Swarm Live Trials,” Leonardo, Press release, June 22, 2026, https://www.leonardo.com/en/press-release-detail/-/detail/22-06-2026-leonardo-and-baykar-set-major-milestone-for-advanced-crewed-uncrewed-capability-development-with-successful-first-k-swarm-live-trials.

[3] “AirPro News on Instagram: ‘Leonardo and Baykar Completed the First Phase of the K-SWARM Programme in May 2026, Demonstrating Live Crewed-to-Uncrewed Aircraft Control during Flight Trials in Çorlu, Türkiye.  #aviation #aerospace #MRO Link in Bio <–,’” Instagram, Air Pro News, June 24, 2026, https://www.instagram.com/airpro_news/reel/DZ9lZQZEg8l/.

[4] Anadolu Agency, “Baykar, Leonardo Complete Live Tests of Crewed-Unmanned Aircraft Teaming,” Daily Sabah, June 22, 2026, https://www.dailysabah.com/business/defense/baykar-leonardo-complete-live-tests-of-crewed-unmanned-aircraft-teaming.

[5] Agnes Helou, “Leonardo and Baykar Complete Test Flights for Manned-Unmanned Teaming,” Breaking Defense, June 23, 2026, https://breakingdefense.com/2026/06/leonardo-and-baykar-complete-test-flights-for-manned-unmanned-teaming/.

[6] “Bayraktar TB3 Debuts in Europe as ‘Astore Levante’ at Farnborough,” Türkiye Today, July 22, 2026, https://www.turkiyetoday.com/region/us-saudi-nuclear-deal-stokes-fears-of-middle-east-arms-race-report-3224473.

[7] “Baykar, Leonardo Demonstrate CUC-T under K-Swarm Programme,” Janes, UK, June 22, 2026, https://www.janes.com/defence-intelligence-insights/defence-news/air/baykar-leonardo-demonstrate-cuc-t-under-k-swarm-programme.

[8] Gregory C. Allen and Isaac Goldston, “The Department of Defense’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft Program: Good News, Bad News, and Unanswered Questions,” CSIS, Report, August 6, 2024, https://www.csis.org/analysis/department-defenses-collaborative-combat-aircraft-program-good-news-bad-news-and.

[9] “Leonardo and Baykar Establish Joint Venture for Unmanned Technologies,” Leonardo, Press release, June 16, 2025, https://www.leonardo.com/en/press-release-detail/-/detail/16-06-2025-leonardo-and-baykar-establish-joint-venture-for-unmanned-technologies.

[10] “Leonardo and Baykar’s LBA Systems JV Achieves Full Operational Readiness,” Leonardo, Press release, July 21, 2026, https://www.leonardo.com/en/press-release-detail/-/detail/21-07-2026-leonardo-and-baykar-s-lba-systems-jv-achieves-full-operational-readiness.

[11] “Leonardo and Baykar Test Control of KIZILELMA UCAV From M-346,” Militarnyi, 2026, https://militarnyi.com/en/news/leonardo-and-baykar-test-control-of-kizilelma-ucav-from-m-346/.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Thomas Newdick, “Turkey’s ‘Fighter Drone’ Teamed With M-346 Fighter-Trainer In Autonomy Trials,” The War Zone (TWZ), June 22, 2026, https://www.twz.com/air/turkeys-fighter-drone-teamed-with-m-346-fighter-trainer-in-autonomy-trials.

[14] Craig Hoyle, “Leonardo, Baykar Pair M-346FA with Uncrewed Kizilelma for Teaming Demonstration,” FlightGlobal, June 22, 2026, https://www.flightglobal.com/defence/2026/06/leonardo-baykar-pair-m-346fa-with-uncrewed-kizilelma-for-teaming-demonstration/.

[15] “In a First, F-22 Pilot Controls Wingman Drone From Cockpit, General Atomics Says,” Breaking Defense, November 2025, https://breakingdefense.com/2025/11/in-a-first-f-22-pilot-controls-wingman-drone-from-cockpit-general-atomics-says/.

[16] “Droni MQ-28 Ghost Bat: un E-7A Wedgetail controlla due droni in volo in una demo di interoperabilità ed integrazione,” Aviation Report, June 20, 2025, https://www.aviation-report.com/droni-mq-28-ghost-bat-un-e-7a-wedgetail-controlla-due-droni-in-volo-in-una-demo-di-interoperabilita-ed-integrazione/.

[17] Francesco Salesio Schiavi and Serhat Süha Çubukçuoğlu, “How Collaborative Combat Aircraft Are Reshaping Airpower,” TRENDS Group, Abu Dhabi, UAE, May 18, 2026, https://trendsgroup.org/insight/how-collaborative-combat-aircraft-are-reshaping-airpower/.

[18] Livio Rossetti, “Manned-Unmanned Teaming,” Joint Air Power Competence Centre, Journal Edition 29, January 2020, https://www.japcc.org/articles/manned-unmanned-teaming/.

[19] “KIZILELMA Strikes with ASELSAN’s TOYGUN in First Fully Indigenous Guidance Test,” Quwa, 2026, https://quwa.org/turkey/turkish-defence-news/kizilelma-strikes-with-aselsans-toygun-in-first-fully-indigenous-guidance-test/.

[20] Schiavi and Çubukçuoğlu, “How Collaborative Combat Aircraft Are Reshaping Airpower.”

[21] BaykarTech, “Bayraktar Kızılelma Performs Formation Flight Using Smart Fleet Autonomy,” Baykar, December 28, 2025, https://baykartech.com/en/press/bayraktar-kizilelma-performs-formation-flight-using-smart-fleet-autonomy/.

[22] “Leonardo and Baykar Set Major Milestone for Advanced Crewed/Uncrewed Capability Development with Successful First K-Swarm Live Trials,” Leonardo, June 22, 2026, https://www.leonardo.com/en/press-release-detail/-/detail/22-06-2026-leonardo-and-baykar-set-major-milestone-for-advanced-crewed-uncrewed-capability-development-with-successful-first-k-swarm-live-trials.

[23] Sıtkı Egeli et al., From Client to Competitor: The Rise of Türkiye’s Defence Industry (IISS, 2024), https://www.iiss.org/globalassets/media-library—content–migration/files/research-papers/2024/05-new/iiss_from-client-to-competitor-the-rise-of-turkiyes-defence-industry_010520242.pdf.

[24] Göksel Yıldırım, “Türkiye Sets Higher Targets for Defense, Aerospace Exports in 2026,” Anadolu Agency, Ankara, Turkey, January 31, 2026, https://www.aa.com.tr/en/science-technology/turkiye-sets-higher-targets-for-defense-aerospace-exports-in-2026/3815637.

[25] Can Sezer and Tuvan Gumrukcu, “Turkey Targets More Defence Sales as West Rearms, Alliances Shift,” Aerospace & Defense, Reuters, June 5, 2026, https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/turkey-targets-more-defence-sales-west-rearms-alliances-shift-2026-06-05/.

[26] “Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP),” Leobardo, 2026, https://www.leonardo.com/en/business/gcap.

[27] Giulio Menegotto, “L’M-346 controlla in volo il KIZILELMA,” RID, June 22, 2026, https://www.rid.it/shownews/8166/l-rsquo-m-346-controlla-in-volo-il-kizilelma.

[28] Sebastian Sprenger, “Unmanned Leonardo Jet Trainers Could Take GCAP Drone Role, CEO Says,” Defense News, June 17, 2025, https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2025/06/17/unmanned-leonardo-jet-trainers-could-take-gcap-drone-role-ceo-says/.

[29] Riccardo Gasco and Francesco Salesio Schiavi, “Italy’s Turkish Turn — and Europe’s Unspoken Defence Shift,” Substack newsletter, Riccardo Gasco, April 9, 2026, https://gasco66.substack.com/p/italys-turkish-turn-and-europes-unspoken.