AKINCI Scores a Direct Hit with ASELSAN’s New MGK Munition
Baykar’s AKINCI combat drone carried out its first live-fire test with ASELSAN’s MORFOZ Guidance Kit (MGK) on October 8, 2026. The test aircraft took off from the Çorlu Flight Training and Test Center in Tekirdağ, and the designated target at the Saros Gulf firing range was destroyed with a direct hit using the MGK. AKINCI then returned safely to Çorlu. Baykar announced the result on its official news page on October 9.
According to Baykar, the MGK was developed entirely with domestic components by ASELSAN. The same sortie also included the Alpagut munition, jointly developed by ROKETSAN and STM. That makes it an integration trial bringing together products from three separate Turkish defense companies on a single test flight, pairing ASELSAN’s guidance technology with the munitions-development capacity of the ROKETSAN-STM partnership on one platform.
MORFOZ Guidance Kit sits within a broader family of kits that convert conventional bombs into precision-guided munitions. Türkiye’s track record in this area goes back years, through the HGK-82/84 and KGK series of kits; integrating MGK with AKINCI can be read as part of an effort to extend that guidance-kit family’s compatibility across different airborne platforms. Baykar’s published statement did not disclose technical performance figures such as range or circular error probable.
Alpagut, for its part, is a joint product of ROKETSAN and STM. This munition family, developed through cooperation between the two companies, has featured in earlier AKINCI firing tests as well. Baykar’s report did not specify Alpagut’s exact role in this particular test, but the presence of both MGK and Alpagut on the same sortie suggests a broader trial meant to validate more than one munitions system at once.
Since its first flight in 2019, AKINCI has been integrated and tested with a long list of domestic munitions, including TOLUN, GÖZDE, LGK-82, SUNGUR, and the İHA-122 and İHA-300 supersonic missiles. The adaptability of the platform’s underwing stations to different munition families has made AKINCI something of a validation and fielding platform for Türkiye’s newly developed guided munitions. The MGK test is the latest addition to that list.
Saros Gulf is a firing range frequently used for AKINCI and Bayraktar TB2 tests because of its proximity to Baykar’s Çorlu facility. The choice makes sense both for logistics and for test safety, which is why most of these trials end up being announced to the public through video or photo releases.
The symbolic dimension of the test is worth noting too: AKINCI carrying both ASELSAN’s guidance-kit technology and the ROKETSAN-STM munition on a single flight shows that integration between platform manufacturer and subsystem suppliers in Türkiye’s defense ecosystem has become close to routine. A decade ago, guided kits and precision munitions in this category were mostly sourced abroad; testing three different domestic manufacturers’ products on one flight today captures how far that localization process has come.
MGK’s place within ASELSAN’s broader guidance-kit lineup becomes clearer when set alongside the company’s earlier KGK-84 wing-assisted kit and various laser-guided kits. Each new kit tends to be optimized for a specific munition body or platform combination, and adapting MGK for compatibility with AKINCI suggests it was designed to be released from UCAV-class platforms specifically. That, in turn, points to AKINCI functioning not just as a user of existing munitions stock but as a test platform for newly developed systems as well.
Sources
- Baykar, “AKINCI Scores a Direct Hit with MGK Munitions on Its First Firing,” 09.10.2026 — baykartech.com — Primary source for the test date, location, participating companies and result.
