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Leonardo and Baykar K-SWARM Trials Show M-346 Evolving into Airborne Command Node for KIZILELMA Unmanned Fighter.
Leonardo and Baykar have successfully completed the first live K-SWARM trials integrating the M-346 with the KIZILELMA unmanned fighter, the companies announced on June 22, 2026, demonstrating a major advance in crewed-uncrewed combat teaming that could reshape how future air forces generate combat mass and maintain air superiority. The flights showed that a pilot aboard the M-346 could command and coordinate an autonomous fighter-class unmanned aircraft in real time, moving the concept beyond simulation and into operational flight conditions.
The key achievement was the M-346’s ability to function as an airborne command node, directing KIZILELMA through autonomous formation changes, separations, and rejoins while retaining human control over mission decisions. By combining supervised autonomy, secure data exchange, and fighter-level unmanned performance, the trials highlight a practical pathway toward future combat-air architectures where crewed aircraft and autonomous wingmen operate as a single coordinated force across contested and multidomain battlespaces.
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Leonardo and Baykar’s K-SWARM trials showed an M-346 aircraft directing KIZILELMA in autonomous formation flight, marking a major step toward crewed-uncrewed air combat teaming (Picture Source: Leonardo)
On 22 June 2026, Leonardo and Baykar announced the successful first live trials of the K-SWARM programme, marking a decisive step in the operational fusion of Italian combat aviation engineering and Turkish uncrewed airpower. Conducted in May at Baykar’s flight and test center in Çorlu, Türkiye, the campaign brought together Leonardo M-346 aircraft and the Bayraktar KIZILELMA unmanned fighter aircraft in autonomous formation flights. Beyond a technology demonstration, the event shows how Italy and Türkiye are positioning themselves at the center of the next combat-air cycle, where crewed aircraft, uncrewed fighters, autonomy, secure data exchange and mission-level coordination will define air superiority.
The K-SWARM trials represent a concrete leap from laboratory validation and simulator-based experimentation to live air operations involving high-performance platforms. The campaign used two Leonardo M-346 aircraft, including a Leonardo-owned M-346 Fighter Attack variant and an Italian Air Force T-346A operating as chase aircraft, alongside Baykar’s KIZILELMA uncrewed fighter. This configuration was not a simple formation exercise. It tested the ability of a crewed aircraft to interact with, command and coordinate an unmanned combat air platform through dedicated crewed/uncrewed teaming architecture, with autonomous responses executed by the uncrewed asset during real flight. For Italy, the trial underlines the M-346’s evolution from an advanced jet trainer and light combat platform into a relevant testbed for future air combat architectures. For Türkiye, it confirms KIZILELMA’s role as one of the most visible unmanned fighter programmes moving toward practical integration with crewed combat aviation.
At the center of the campaign was the validation of collaborative combat teaming, swarm tactics and interoperability between crewed and uncrewed aircraft. Leonardo’s contribution came from its Avionic and Flight Control Innovation Labs and its product capability and concept laboratory, PC2LAB, in Turin, connected with an M-346 Full Mission Simulator in Venegono. This digital engineering chain gave Leonardo the ability to develop, model, test and refine algorithms, tactics and procedures before bringing them into a live-flight environment. Baykar, working through its own software and hardware infrastructure, integrated Smart Fleet Autonomy capabilities into the crewed/uncrewed teaming algorithms. The Turkish company’s Hardware-in-the-Loop laboratory played a central role in preparing the autonomous behavior of KIZILELMA, reducing integration friction and enabling a rapid transfer from controlled test conditions to flight operations.
The most significant operational sequence began after KIZILELMA completed autonomous taxi and takeoff, then rejoined the M-346 Fighter Attack in flight using Baykar’s Smart Fleet Autonomy algorithms. Once the unmanned fighter settled into formation, the M-346 became the controlling aircraft through a newly integrated onboard avionics suite and dedicated crewed-uncrewed computing system. From the cockpit, M-346 pilots ordered formation changes, separations, and rejoins, while KIZILELMA autonomously carried out each maneuver with accurate command response. This was not remote piloting in the traditional sense, but supervised autonomy, with the crewed aircraft retaining tactical authority while the unmanned fighter handled complex flight tasks.
The deeper significance of the Çorlu campaign is that Leonardo and Baykar validated a command relationship between a crewed aircraft and a fighter-class unmanned aircraft, not merely a mixed formation flight. In this model, the M-346 acted as a human-controlled airborne command node, while KIZILELMA functioned as an autonomous combat asset responding to pilot direction without adding excessive cockpit workload. That distinction is critical for future air combat, where unmanned fighters will need to maneuver, separate, rejoin, and eventually execute mission tasks under human supervision. The trial showed autonomy as an extension of pilot authority, not a replacement for it, a requirement that will shape future rules of engagement, certification, and operational acceptance by air forces.
The trials also demonstrated the importance of secure, synchronized and resilient data exchange in future air combat. An advanced radio-frequency data exchange system enabled the M-346 and KIZILELMA to share synchronized mission data, while Leonardo’s GCC Tactical Platform provided cyber protection and real-time monitoring for the command-and-control architecture. In practical aviation terms, this is a key element of crewed/uncrewed teaming: autonomy alone is insufficient without a protected data fabric, stable command links, verified mission-state awareness and safeguards against cyber intrusion or data corruption. By combining Italian cyber-defense and avionics expertise with Turkish uncrewed fighter autonomy, the K-SWARM campaign moved beyond aircraft performance and addressed the command layer that future multidomain air operations will require.
The Italian side of the programme is especially relevant because Leonardo is using the M-346 ecosystem as a bridge between current-generation fighters and future combat air systems. The aircraft’s digital avionics, simulator connectivity, flight-control expertise and training heritage give it a flexible role as an airborne controller, tactical experimentation platform and integration asset for autonomy-enabled operations. In this role, the aircraft becomes more than a trainer or fighter attack platform; it becomes an airborne laboratory for testing pilot-machine interfaces, autonomy supervision, formation-control logic, command handover procedures and cockpit workload before these functions are migrated to more complex fighter environments. The presence of an Italian Air Force T-346A as chase aircraft also reflects a disciplined flight-test methodology, providing safety oversight and real-time observation during complex mixed-formation operations. This reinforces Italy’s position not only as a producer of aircraft and avionics, but also as a builder of the digital backbone needed for future air combat.
The Turkish contribution is equally central. Baykar’s KIZILELMA is not a conventional UAV adapted for formation work, but an unmanned fighter aircraft designed to support high-speed and high-performance mission profiles. Its autonomous taxi, take-off and rejoin performance during the campaign shows progress toward a combat aviation model in which uncrewed aircraft can operate as force multipliers for pilots, extending formation flexibility, increasing available combat mass and enabling new mission profiles in contested airspace. Baykar’s ability to integrate Smart Fleet Autonomy through its HIL laboratory demonstrates the maturity of Türkiye’s defense-aerospace engineering base and its capacity to move quickly from software validation to live testing. For Türkiye, K-SWARM strengthens the national trajectory from combat-proven unmanned systems toward more complex air-combat ecosystems.
The broader defense value of K-SWARM lies in the way it combines algorithmic autonomy with human command, rather than replacing the pilot. The future combat-air environment will require aircraft and uncrewed systems to operate together across contested airspace, electronic warfare conditions, air-defense threat envelopes and multidomain mission networks. K-SWARM’s first live phase focused on formation control, coordinated maneuvering and command transfer, but the next phases are expected to introduce greater mission complexity, broader situational awareness and additional functions. The next logical steps may include multi-aircraft coordination, sensor-tasking, tactical separation management, target handoff, dynamic mission replanning and operations under degraded communications. These functions would move the architecture from formation control toward mission-level collaboration, where several assets contribute to a single operational objective while preserving human command authority.
The first K-SWARM live trials give Italy and Türkiye a powerful joint position in the race toward crewed/uncrewed combat aviation. Leonardo brings avionics, cyber protection, digital engineering, simulation and flight-control competence; Baykar brings KIZILELMA, Smart Fleet Autonomy and a rapidly expanding uncrewed fighter ecosystem. Together, both companies have demonstrated that collaborative air combat is no longer confined to conceptual studies or simulator laboratories. The Çorlu flights show a practical pathway toward formations where crewed aircraft and unmanned fighters operate as coordinated tactical entities, preserving pilot authority while expanding combat mass, flexibility and mission reach. The strategic message is clear: Italy and Türkiye are not only testing a new air-combat concept, but shaping a practical model in which crewed fighters, uncrewed combat aircraft, secure data links and supervised autonomy converge into a deployable architecture for future multidomain operations.
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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