UAV and Drones: Technology that will Rule the Skies of the Future│Johan Pelissier, Haluk Bayraktar

Military aerospace is undergoing a fundamental shift toward unmanned systems and collaborative "system-of-systems" architectures designed for contested environments. Turkey has achieved technological sovereignty by developing native platforms like the Bayraktar TB2 and Akinci, moving toward autonomous jets like the Kızıl Elma to address high-threat warfare requirements. Simultaneously, European defense initiatives like the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) prioritize a network-centric approach, integrating manned fighters with remote carriers through a combat cloud. This architecture moves beyond traditional data links, utilizing distributed sensing and AI-driven decision-making to maintain operational superiority. As these technologies mature, the focus shifts from individual platform performance to the seamless integration of autonomous nodes, enabling synchronized, multi-domain engagement in complex, electronically jammed theaters of operation.