Roketsan’s UAV-300 missile has been fired at a real target for the first time, from a Turkish Akinci drone over the Black Sea off the coast of Sinop. Roketsan, which developed the weapon, says it struck its target at a range of more than 250 kilometers in what the company calls the missile’s first live test. The firing was made public on Sept. 11, 2026.
The claims belong to the two companies involved: Roketsan built the missile and Baykar builds the Akinci. Outside reporting on the test notes that Baykar has not disclosed enough performance data to independently establish the missile’s maximum range, speed or warhead mass.
The Aviationist’s Parth Satam laid out what the companies said in a Sept. 12, 2026 report on the test. Murat İkinci, general manager of Roketsan, called it “the first live test of the UAV-300,” and added that the weapon “successfully struck the target at a range of over 250 kilometers.” Baykar and its chief technology officer, Selçuk Bayraktar, released video of the trial on Sept. 11, 2026, with Bayraktar stating, “The target at a range of 250+ kilometers was successfully hit with the UAV-300 supersonic ballistic missile.”
What the companies claim for the UAV-300
Baykar CEO Haluk Bayraktar went further. Per The Aviationist, he said the UAV-300 is the longest-range domestically developed missile to be fired from another indigenous platform like the Akinci, and he described it as a supersonic missile rather than an air-launched ballistic missile, or ALBM, the label The Aviationist’s own headline uses.
Range is where claims and demonstration part ways. Turkish defense outlet TurDef reported that Haluk Bayraktar said the UAV-300 “can reach a range of 300+ km when fired from the AKINCI UCAV,” and TurDef’s account of the Sept. 11, 2026 firing says the target was maritime and that the missile uses a TV seeker for terminal guidance. The Aviationist adds that Turkish reports quoting Roketsan officials at defense exhibitions put the range between 300 and 500 km, with the upper figure from faster, higher-flying fighter jets.
Those longer figures are promises. What has been shown is a single strike past 250 km. Roketsan, per The Aviationist, has not yet featured the UAV-300 on its website, so there is no manufacturer spec sheet to check.
Akinci PT-5 and the Sinop range
The Aviationist reports that the Akinci used, PT-5, was seen in the released video taking off with two UAV-122 missiles on its middle hardpoints and the UAV-300 on the innermost pylon of its right wing. It then transited to the Black Sea off Sinop.
Army Recognition’s writeup of the Sept. 11, 2026 test says the drone launched from the Çorlu Flight Training and Test Center in Tekirdağ. It also draws the line that matters for readers: the result represents “a demonstrated strike beyond 250 km rather than a definitive maximum engagement range,” and a hit on a maritime target under controlled conditions should not automatically be equated with proven combat performance against a maneuvering warship using electronic warfare, decoys and layered air defenses.
TurDef puts the new weapon in context against the drone’s existing arsenal. It lists the ÇAKIR cruise missile at a range of 200-plus km and the UAV-230 at 150-plus km, which would make the UAV-300 the longest-reach weapon on the aircraft if the company figures hold.
The aircraft carrying it
The Akinci itself has a longer record. Baykar’s own April 9, 2024 release says the Akinci made its maiden flight on Dec. 6, 2019, had passed 50,000 flight hours and had export agreements with nine countries at that time. The release lists a range of Turkish-made munitions already integrated on the aircraft.
Defence Industry Europe, summarizing a Baykar statement on Sept. 22, 2026, reported that the missile scored a direct hit and that the Akinci returned to base along its planned route. That is the full public record of the shot: one firing, one maritime target, a range above 250 km, and a pair of manufacturers reporting their own result. None of the company statements reported so far gives a date for the next UAV-300 firing.
Top image: A Bayraktar Akinci on display at Teknofest 2021 in Istanbul. The aircraft in the UAV-300 test is not shown. Image Credit: CeeGee — CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Combat Rated editors prior to publication.