Baykar’s AKINCI and two Bayraktar TB2 drones landed on and took off from the Manisa-Balıkesir highway in western Türkiye on 12 November 2026, in a drill simulating an emergency in which runways cannot be used.
According to Baykar, the drill was coordinated by the Ministry of National Defence, the General Directorate of Highways and the company. A TB2 used by Baykar for training took off from Keşan, an AKINCI from Çorlu and a Land Forces Command TB2 from İzmir; all three landed on the highway and took off again from it.
Next: KIZILELMA and TB3
Baykar says the concept will be extended to all its unmanned aircraft, including the KIZILELMA unmanned fighter and the ship-based TB3, so that each can use suitable road segments instead of fixed runways. Route surveys were carried out across Türkiye before the first drill.
Why It Matters for Operators in the Region
The TB2 and AKINCI are flown by many air forces across the Middle East and Africa, where air bases are few and often exposed. A proven procedure for operating from roads gives these users a way to disperse their drone fleets and keep flying if a main base is struck, a lesson that recent conflicts have made hard to ignore.