Turkish Aerospace Industries Reveals AKSUNGUR Combat Drone Equipped With Two SÜPER ŞİMŞEK Multi-Role UAVs
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Turkish Aerospace Industries released footage on 10 March 2026 showing an Aksungur UCAV flying with two Super Simsek jet-powered UAVs mounted under its wings. The test demonstrates Turkiye’s push toward modular drone warfare, where larger endurance platforms deploy expendable unmanned systems for strike, decoy, and electronic warfare missions.
On 10 March 2026, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) published on its official X account a flight test video showing an AKSUNGUR unmanned combat aerial vehicle carrying two SÜPER ŞİMŞEK multi-role UAVs under its wings. The images confirm the integration of a high-endurance MALE UCAV with jet-powered, expendable unmanned assets designed for decoy, electronic warfare and strike roles. This development comes as Türkiye accelerates work on networked, multi-layered drone architectures, in which attritable systems complement larger platforms. The flight highlights a concept with direct implications for suppression of enemy air defences and stand-in strike operations.
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Turkish Aerospace Industries has demonstrated a new modular air combat concept with the Aksungur UCAV carrying two jet-powered Super Simsek UAVs, highlighting Türkiye’s push toward deployable, expendable drone systems for decoy, electronic warfare, and strike missions (Picture Source: TAI)
The new video shows AKSUNGUR taxiing and taking off with one SÜPER ŞİMŞEK suspended under each wing, using the UCAV’s six under-wing hardpoints to carry not just munitions but powered unmanned effectors. While TAI has already demonstrated SÜPER ŞİMŞEK launches from the stealthy ANKA-III platform, the combination with AKSUNGUR suggests a broader family approach in which different unmanned aircraft can employ the same air-launched UAV. In this initial phase, the test appears focused on carriage, flight-envelope expansion and safe separation ahead of live release firings. It also confirms that AKSUNGUR’s structural and avionics architecture can handle the aerodynamic and electrical integration of multi-role UAV pods rather than traditional bombs alone.
At the centre of this concept stands Aksungur itself, a twin-engine medium-altitude long-endurance UAV derived from the Anka line but redesigned around high payload capacity and persistence. According to the manufacturer, the aircraft has a wingspan of 24 metres, a length of 12.5 metres and a maximum take-off weight of 3,300 kg, including more than 750 kg of usable payload. Two TEI-PD170 dual turbo-diesel engines drive three-bladed propellers and support missions up to 40,000 ft, with endurance figures reaching 50 hours in ferry profile. The platform combines line-of-sight digital datalinks with more than 250 km range and satellite communications providing control out to beyond 5,000 km, and it is fitted for EO/IR sensors, SAR/GMTI radar and COMINT/ELINT payloads as well as precision-guided bombs, rockets and anti-tank weapons. A redundant avionics architecture, autonomous take-off and landing, de-icing and automatic return-home modes are designed to allow safe operation in demanding environments and across long-endurance sorties.
Super Simsek, the payload featured in the new test, is presented by TUSAŞ as a tactical UAV evolved from the Simsek target drone into a high-speed multi-role asset. The air vehicle is about four metres long with a 1.75-metre wingspan, stands roughly 0.75 metres high and has a maximum take-off weight of 200 kg, carrying up to 50 kg of mission payload. Powered by a turbojet, it can reach speeds around Mach 0.85, operate at altitudes up to 35,000 ft and remain airborne for approximately 80 minutes, giving it an operational radius on the order of 900 km when air-launched. The system is fully autonomous, with line-of-sight control out to roughly 150 km, onboard mission management and multiple emergency modes including automatic recovery by parachute. While the original Simsek was mainly used as a target for air-defence training, Super Simsek adds greater range, speed and payload capacity to become a modular platform rather than a single-purpose drone.
Mission profiles for Super Simsek now extend well beyond target simulation. The platform can be configured with radar and infrared signature enhancers to act as an apparent combat aircraft on enemy sensors, with electronic support and jamming equipment for electronic warfare tasks, or with a high-explosive warhead in roughly the 35 kg class for direct attack. It is designed to be re-rolled between training and operational use: the same airframe that serves as a realistic target in air-defence exercises can, with different payload modules, become a decoy that pulls hostile missiles away from higher-value aircraft, or a one-way strike asset aimed at radar sites, command posts or other point targets. Super Simsek can be deployed from the air by Anka, Anka III and Aksungur or fired from ground and naval launchers using rocket-assisted take-off, which gives commanders the option to saturate a given sector with multiple tracks arriving from different vectors. The system also incorporates AI-supported swarm technology, allowing several air vehicles to share information and coordinate their approach to a contested area.
Coupling Aksungur with two under-wing Super Simsek drones opens a range of tactical combinations. In a suppression or destruction of enemy air defences scenario, Aksungur could loiter well outside the densest threat rings while releasing waves of Super Simsek units to fly pre-planned or dynamically updated routes into radar coverage. Some drones could present enhanced radar and infrared signatures and deliberately expose themselves to fire, forcing the adversary to reveal the position and operating mode of its surface-to-air systems. Others, fitted with electronic warfare payloads, might degrade tracking and engagement chains, while strike-configured airframes home on emission sources or pre-designated static targets. The expendable nature of Super Simsek means that high-risk “stand-in” tasks can be carried out by relatively low-cost assets rather than by crewed aircraft or scarce cruise missiles, a pattern already visible in other contemporary conflicts.
The March 10 test also fits into a wider doctrinal shift from isolated UAVs to manned-unmanned teams and systems-of-systems. Open sources describe the Otonom Kol Uçucusu (OKU) concept, in which the future KAAN fighter acts as a command node for a range of unmanned platforms, including Anka III and high-speed effectors derived from the Super Simsek family. In this framework, aircraft such as Aksungur would serve as persistent carriers and relay nodes on the edge of contested airspace, placing swarms of smaller UAVs into the battlespace under the direction of crewed fighters or ground command networks. The ability to field a common tactical drone from several host platforms reduces integration effort and inventory complexity, while allowing the same effector type to be used across reconnaissance, SEAD and strike missions. This evolution is part of a broader international trend in which air forces seek to distribute combat power across many smaller nodes to complicate enemy targeting and reduce vulnerability to single points of failure.
Aksungur already has operational experience that can underpin this evolution. The type has been fielded for maritime surveillance, anti-submarine warfare trials and long-endurance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, including exports to partners that need coverage over wide and sparsely monitored areas. Those deployments have validated its endurance, sensor performance and weapons integration in real conditions as well as the robustness of its redundant flight-control and power systems. Turning such a platform into a carrier for Super Simsek and similar effectors is a logical progression: instead of designing a new “mother ship” from scratch, TUSAŞ can experiment with modular payloads on a proven airframe, accelerating the path from concept to operational use. This approach also offers potential export customers a path to gradually adopt complex air-combat architectures, starting with ISR and precision strike and later adding air-launched tactical drones without replacing the base platform.
The Aksungur–Super Simsek pairing illustrates how national UAV industries are moving from platform-centric catalogues to complete ecosystems spanning sensors, effectors and command architectures. For Türkiye, being able to show an indigenous MALE UCAV carrying domestically designed tactical drones with multi-mission payloads strengthens the narrative of autonomy in critical defence technologies and opens doors in export markets where buyers are looking for integrated air-combat solutions rather than just individual airframes. In an era where advanced air-defence networks and electronic warfare assets can rapidly adapt to new threats, having a flexible, reconfigurable toolkit of expendable drones gives planners more options to probe, saturate and, where necessary, degrade hostile systems over time. The March 10 test is therefore not only a technical milestone but also a visible marker of a broader shift toward modular, layered and networked air power.
The sight of an Aksungur UCAV climbing out with two Super Simsek drones under its wings encapsulates this evolution in a single image: a long-endurance carrier aircraft coupled to fast, expendable effectors designed for deception, electronic warfare and strike. Building on mature platforms and clearly defined technical data, TUSAŞ is testing a family of systems concept in which the same tactical UAV can be launched from different hosts, equipped with different payloads and tasked dynamically according to the threat picture. As further carriage, separation and live-employment trials unfold, this architecture is poised to give operators a scalable set of tools for training, deterrence and high-risk combat missions alike, and to position Aksungur and Super Simsek as central elements in the next phase of Türkiye’s unmanned air-combat doctrine.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.
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Turkish Aerospace Industries released footage on 10 March 2026 showing an Aksungur UCAV flying with two Super Simsek jet-powered UAVs mounted under its wings. The test demonstrates Turkiye’s push toward modular drone warfare, where larger endurance platforms deploy expendable unmanned systems for strike, decoy, and electronic warfare missions.
On 10 March 2026, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) published on its official X account a flight test video showing an AKSUNGUR unmanned combat aerial vehicle carrying two SÜPER ŞİMŞEK multi-role UAVs under its wings. The images confirm the integration of a high-endurance MALE UCAV with jet-powered, expendable unmanned assets designed for decoy, electronic warfare and strike roles. This development comes as Türkiye accelerates work on networked, multi-layered drone architectures, in which attritable systems complement larger platforms. The flight highlights a concept with direct implications for suppression of enemy air defences and stand-in strike operations.
Turkish Aerospace Industries has demonstrated a new modular air combat concept with the Aksungur UCAV carrying two jet-powered Super Simsek UAVs, highlighting Türkiye’s push toward deployable, expendable drone systems for decoy, electronic warfare, and strike missions (Picture Source: TAI)
The new video shows AKSUNGUR taxiing and taking off with one SÜPER ŞİMŞEK suspended under each wing, using the UCAV’s six under-wing hardpoints to carry not just munitions but powered unmanned effectors. While TAI has already demonstrated SÜPER ŞİMŞEK launches from the stealthy ANKA-III platform, the combination with AKSUNGUR suggests a broader family approach in which different unmanned aircraft can employ the same air-launched UAV. In this initial phase, the test appears focused on carriage, flight-envelope expansion and safe separation ahead of live release firings. It also confirms that AKSUNGUR’s structural and avionics architecture can handle the aerodynamic and electrical integration of multi-role UAV pods rather than traditional bombs alone.
At the centre of this concept stands Aksungur itself, a twin-engine medium-altitude long-endurance UAV derived from the Anka line but redesigned around high payload capacity and persistence. According to the manufacturer, the aircraft has a wingspan of 24 metres, a length of 12.5 metres and a maximum take-off weight of 3,300 kg, including more than 750 kg of usable payload. Two TEI-PD170 dual turbo-diesel engines drive three-bladed propellers and support missions up to 40,000 ft, with endurance figures reaching 50 hours in ferry profile. The platform combines line-of-sight digital datalinks with more than 250 km range and satellite communications providing control out to beyond 5,000 km, and it is fitted for EO/IR sensors, SAR/GMTI radar and COMINT/ELINT payloads as well as precision-guided bombs, rockets and anti-tank weapons. A redundant avionics architecture, autonomous take-off and landing, de-icing and automatic return-home modes are designed to allow safe operation in demanding environments and across long-endurance sorties.
Super Simsek, the payload featured in the new test, is presented by TUSAŞ as a tactical UAV evolved from the Simsek target drone into a high-speed multi-role asset. The air vehicle is about four metres long with a 1.75-metre wingspan, stands roughly 0.75 metres high and has a maximum take-off weight of 200 kg, carrying up to 50 kg of mission payload. Powered by a turbojet, it can reach speeds around Mach 0.85, operate at altitudes up to 35,000 ft and remain airborne for approximately 80 minutes, giving it an operational radius on the order of 900 km when air-launched. The system is fully autonomous, with line-of-sight control out to roughly 150 km, onboard mission management and multiple emergency modes including automatic recovery by parachute. While the original Simsek was mainly used as a target for air-defence training, Super Simsek adds greater range, speed and payload capacity to become a modular platform rather than a single-purpose drone.
Mission profiles for Super Simsek now extend well beyond target simulation. The platform can be configured with radar and infrared signature enhancers to act as an apparent combat aircraft on enemy sensors, with electronic support and jamming equipment for electronic warfare tasks, or with a high-explosive warhead in roughly the 35 kg class for direct attack. It is designed to be re-rolled between training and operational use: the same airframe that serves as a realistic target in air-defence exercises can, with different payload modules, become a decoy that pulls hostile missiles away from higher-value aircraft, or a one-way strike asset aimed at radar sites, command posts or other point targets. Super Simsek can be deployed from the air by Anka, Anka III and Aksungur or fired from ground and naval launchers using rocket-assisted take-off, which gives commanders the option to saturate a given sector with multiple tracks arriving from different vectors. The system also incorporates AI-supported swarm technology, allowing several air vehicles to share information and coordinate their approach to a contested area.
Coupling Aksungur with two under-wing Super Simsek drones opens a range of tactical combinations. In a suppression or destruction of enemy air defences scenario, Aksungur could loiter well outside the densest threat rings while releasing waves of Super Simsek units to fly pre-planned or dynamically updated routes into radar coverage. Some drones could present enhanced radar and infrared signatures and deliberately expose themselves to fire, forcing the adversary to reveal the position and operating mode of its surface-to-air systems. Others, fitted with electronic warfare payloads, might degrade tracking and engagement chains, while strike-configured airframes home on emission sources or pre-designated static targets. The expendable nature of Super Simsek means that high-risk “stand-in” tasks can be carried out by relatively low-cost assets rather than by crewed aircraft or scarce cruise missiles, a pattern already visible in other contemporary conflicts.
The March 10 test also fits into a wider doctrinal shift from isolated UAVs to manned-unmanned teams and systems-of-systems. Open sources describe the Otonom Kol Uçucusu (OKU) concept, in which the future KAAN fighter acts as a command node for a range of unmanned platforms, including Anka III and high-speed effectors derived from the Super Simsek family. In this framework, aircraft such as Aksungur would serve as persistent carriers and relay nodes on the edge of contested airspace, placing swarms of smaller UAVs into the battlespace under the direction of crewed fighters or ground command networks. The ability to field a common tactical drone from several host platforms reduces integration effort and inventory complexity, while allowing the same effector type to be used across reconnaissance, SEAD and strike missions. This evolution is part of a broader international trend in which air forces seek to distribute combat power across many smaller nodes to complicate enemy targeting and reduce vulnerability to single points of failure.
Aksungur already has operational experience that can underpin this evolution. The type has been fielded for maritime surveillance, anti-submarine warfare trials and long-endurance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, including exports to partners that need coverage over wide and sparsely monitored areas. Those deployments have validated its endurance, sensor performance and weapons integration in real conditions as well as the robustness of its redundant flight-control and power systems. Turning such a platform into a carrier for Super Simsek and similar effectors is a logical progression: instead of designing a new “mother ship” from scratch, TUSAŞ can experiment with modular payloads on a proven airframe, accelerating the path from concept to operational use. This approach also offers potential export customers a path to gradually adopt complex air-combat architectures, starting with ISR and precision strike and later adding air-launched tactical drones without replacing the base platform.
The Aksungur–Super Simsek pairing illustrates how national UAV industries are moving from platform-centric catalogues to complete ecosystems spanning sensors, effectors and command architectures. For Türkiye, being able to show an indigenous MALE UCAV carrying domestically designed tactical drones with multi-mission payloads strengthens the narrative of autonomy in critical defence technologies and opens doors in export markets where buyers are looking for integrated air-combat solutions rather than just individual airframes. In an era where advanced air-defence networks and electronic warfare assets can rapidly adapt to new threats, having a flexible, reconfigurable toolkit of expendable drones gives planners more options to probe, saturate and, where necessary, degrade hostile systems over time. The March 10 test is therefore not only a technical milestone but also a visible marker of a broader shift toward modular, layered and networked air power.
The sight of an Aksungur UCAV climbing out with two Super Simsek drones under its wings encapsulates this evolution in a single image: a long-endurance carrier aircraft coupled to fast, expendable effectors designed for deception, electronic warfare and strike. Building on mature platforms and clearly defined technical data, TUSAŞ is testing a family of systems concept in which the same tactical UAV can be launched from different hosts, equipped with different payloads and tasked dynamically according to the threat picture. As further carriage, separation and live-employment trials unfold, this architecture is poised to give operators a scalable set of tools for training, deterrence and high-risk combat missions alike, and to position Aksungur and Super Simsek as central elements in the next phase of Türkiye’s unmanned air-combat doctrine.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.
