Turkish defense company Baykar announced the completion of the tests, during which the Bayraktar Akıncı strike UAV engaged the aerial target using the Eren loitering munition developed by Roketsan and launched directly from the drone.
The trials were conducted over the Black Sea near the coast of Turkiye's northernmost province, Sinop. The Akıncı took off from the flight training and test center near Çorlu, flew approximately 600 kilometers to the designated test area, intercepted the target, and returned along the same route.
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This was not the first time the Akıncı conducted air-intercept trials. In 2025, similar tests were carried out using the miniature Kemankeş 1 cruise missiles. However, in those earlier trials the aerial target was a multicopter carrying a suspended white canvas panel.
The latest test marked the first use of the Eren loitering munition in an air-to-air interception role.
The Eren loitering munition was unveiled in 2025. It is powered by a turbojet engine, providing a strike range of over 100 kilometers and an endurance of up to 15 minutes. The munition weighs more than 35 kilograms, measures 2 meters in length, and has a diameter of 160 mm.
The weight and type of its warhead have not been disclosed. The manufacturer states that Eren can engage both armored and unarmored targets, suggesting either multiple warhead variants or a multipurpose design, such as a combined shaped-charge and fragmentation configuration.
For guidance, Eren is equipped with an electro-optical seeker featuring artificial intelligence functions, as well as inertial navigation and GNSS. The munition is designed for launch not only from airborne platforms, but also from ground and naval systems.
For ground-based deployment, a dedicated containerized launcher has been developed. Externally, it resembles a standard maritime shipping container and can be mounted on trucks. Such a configuration enables covert strike operations conceptually similar to Ukraine's Operation Spider Web.
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