Turkish combat drone gets a longer-range strike weapon

Turkish drone maker Baykar has fitted its Akıncı unmanned combat aircraft with Roketsan’s new 300-ER air-launched ballistic missile, with a first launch from the drone expected soon, according to Ulusavunma.

Roketsan first showed the 300-ER publicly at the IDEF defense show in Istanbul in July 2025, presenting it as the longest-range weapon yet in a family of air-launched missiles that began with the shorter İHA-122 and İHA-230. The missile can hit targets more than 500 km (310 miles) away, depending on the altitude it is launched from.

The 300-ER measures about 5 meters (16 feet) long, weighs 900 kg (1,980 lb) and carries a warhead of more than 150 kg (330 lb) inside a 370 mm-diameter body. It navigates using GNSS and inertial guidance and switches to a TV camera seeker for the final approach to the target, a setup Roketsan says is built for precision strikes on radars, armored vehicles, air defense systems and command centers.

The missile extends a lineage Roketsan built from its ground-launched artillery rockets. The company adapted its 122 mm and 230 mm-class rockets into the air-launched İHA-122 and İHA-230, both of which Baykar has already test-fired from the Akıncı, hitting targets roughly 55 km and 100 km away in past trials. The 300-ER carries that same approach out to a much longer range, inside a larger airframe.

That range matters because it lets a large drone like the Akıncı release a weapon and turn away before coming within reach of many surface-to-air missile systems built to intercept aircraft rather than incoming ballistic threats. Roketsan has said the missile is also intended for use on fighter jets and on Baykar’s jet-powered Kızılelma combat drone.

Roketsan told Turkish media in April 2026 that it expected to complete initial test firings of the 300-ER and deliver the missile to the Turkish Armed Forces within the year. Baykar’s September 10 statement does not say whether that test launch has already taken place or specify a date for it, and neither company has disclosed when the missile might enter regular service.