Turkey fields GPS‑independent suicide drones
- Baykar said on April 30 it will publicly debut Mizrak, a new long-range Turkish loitering munition built to navigate and strike without GPS. - The standout detail is scale — Baykar says Mizrak can fly more than 1,000 kilometers for over seven hours with 20 kg or 40 kg warheads. - It matters because Turkey is moving from single kamikaze drones toward jam-resistant, AI-guided strike networks and coordinated swarms.
Turkey’s new drone story is really about navigation. Not just explosives, not just range — but whether a strike drone can still find, track, and hit something after GPS gets jammed. That problem has become central in modern war, because cheap drones are everywhere and electronic warfare is everywhere too. Baykar’s new Mizrak loitering munition is Turkey’s latest answer. The company unveiled it on April 30 ahead of the SAHA 2026 defense expo in Istanbul, and the pitch is blunt: long range, long endurance, and guidance that does not fall apart when satellite signals disappear. (aa.com.tr) ### What exactly did Baykar unveil? Mizrak is a fixed-wing loitering munition — basically a one-way strike drone built to fly out, search, and then dive into a target. Baykar says it is designed for deep surface-to-surface missions and long-duration surveillance with real-time strike capability, which mea(aa.com.tr) from May 5 to May 9. (aa.com.tr) ### Why is “without GPS” the big deal? Because GPS denial is no longer an edge case. It is the expected environment. Baykar says Mizrak uses AI-powered autopilot, optical guidance, and visual positioning so it can navigate, locate, and attack even in heavy jamming or without GPS signals at all. In plain E(aa.com.tr) a clean satellite signal. (aa.com.tr) ### How big is this thing? Bigger and longer-ranged than the small backpack-class kamikaze drones people usually picture. Baykar says Mizrak has a range of more than 1,000 kilometers, endurance of more than seven hours, a 4-meter wingspan, and a maximum takeoff weight of 200 kilograms. It can fly at rough(aa.com.tr)rs if you do not want to rely on a clean runway near the front. (aa.com.tr) ### What can it carry? Baykar is framing Mizrak as modular. One version carries twin 40-kilogram warheads for heavier strikes. Another carries a single 20-kilogram warhead with a radio-frequency seeker for more precise attacks against emitters or other high-value targets. Both can use electro-optical and infrared cameras, so the same airframe can handle reconnaissance, target confirmation, and then the strike itself. (aa.com.tr) ### Is this just one drone, or part of something bigger? Turns out it is clearly part of something bigger. In late April, Baykar also demonstrated K2 kamikaze UAVs and Sivrisinek loitering munitions flying in AI-led swarms, with autonomous navigation and targeting independent of satellite navigation. Five(aa.com.tr) exercise overhead. (aa.com.tr) ### So where does Mizrak fit in? Mizrak looks like the long-range end of that family. Sivrisinek appears to be the swarmier, smaller mass-attack piece. K2 is the higher-speed kamikaze UAV. Mizrak adds depth — more range, more endurance, heavier payload options, and the ability to plug into Baykar’s wider drone (aa.com.tr)ecosystem, not a single product. That last part is an inference, but it lines up with the systems Baykar has shown over the past two weeks. (aa.com.tr) ### Why does this matter beyond Turkey? Because the economics are nasty for defenders. A jam-resistant loitering munition that can fly hundreds of miles and arrive in groups forces air defenses to spend expensive interceptors on cheaper incoming threats. The recent Baykar demos also show how the market is(aa.com.tr)rum, and attack in coordinated waves. (al-monitor.com) ### Bottom line? Turkey is not just fielding more kamikaze drones. It is pushing toward drones that can think their way through a jammed battlefield — and that is a much bigger change. (aa.com.tr)
