A First in Global Defence History: STM’s Swarm UAVs Strike Targets with Live Ammunition at EFES-2026

STM, one of Türkiye’s leading defence engineering companies, has achieved a global first in autonomous swarm technologies. During EFES-2026, one of the largest joint military exercises of the Turkish Armed Forces, a swarm consisting of 20 KARGU Loitering Munitions became the first in world defense history to successfully neutralize designated targets using live ammunition within an integrated military exercise scenario.

As one of Türkiye’s leading defence engineering companies, STM Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik ve Ticaret A.Ş. continues to showcase its cutting-edge capabilities in autonomous systems and swarm intelligence at the EFES-2026 Exercise.  The Distinguished Observer Day, held at the Doğanbey Exercise Area in Seferihisar, İzmir with the participation of more than 10,000 personnel from 50 countries, witnessed a landmark event during the night phase of the exercise on May 20. STM’s combat-proven KARGU loitering munitions—currently utilized by 15 countries worldwide—executed a coordinated and simultaneous swarm attack on designated targets.

A Global Milestone

Powered by fully indigenous algorithms and a distributed swarm intelligence architecture, 20 KARGU units took off under the control of a single operator and navigated autonomously to the mission area. During the live-fire phase, operating under conditions mirroring real-world combat, the KARGU swarm demonstrated its ability to detect, classify, and coordinate against targets autonomously.

Through real-time inter-UAV communication and target sharing, the swarm executed a synchronized saturation attack, successfully detonating their anti-personnel warheads on the targets. This operation has been recorded in global military literature as the first-ever live ammunition swarm attack operation conducted by sub-cloud UAVs during a military exercise.

Senior Military Delegations Observe the Operation

The historic operation, carried out during the Distinguished Observer Day of EFES-2026, was observed on-site by Yaşar Güler, Minister of National Defence of the Republic of Türkiye; General Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu, Chief of the Turkish General Staff; Force Commanders; and senior military delegations from various countries. STM’s game-changing swarm capability received significant attention from international military observers and command authorities. The activity demonstrated the operational maturity of swarm systems on the modern battlefield while showcasing Türkiye’s advanced capabilities in autonomous warfare technologies.

Güleryüz: A New Chapter in Global Defense Literature

STM General Manager Özgür Güleryüz stated that the achievement further reinforces Türkiye’s technological leadership in autonomous warfare systems:

“Following the successful field tests we conducted in Ankara in January 2026, we have now taken this capability one step further at EFES-2026, Türkiye’s most prestigious military exercise, and achieved a world first in defence history. The fully autonomous destruction of targets by our swarm consisting of 20 KARGU systems is a source of pride not only for STM but also for the entire Turkish defence industry. Successfully executing a live-ammunition swarm drone attack at this scale within an exercise environment further strengthens Türkiye’s leading position in defence technologies. Through this operation, we have demonstrated that Türkiye is not merely following global developments in swarm intelligence and autonomous systems, but is becoming one of the nations shaping the standards in this field. With our battle-proven technologies, we will continue to provide game-changing operational advantages to security forces across all operational environments.”

STM Swarm UAV Capabilities

Powered by STM’s proprietary algorithms and software, tactical UAVs within STM’s swarm system can communicate with one another in real time, perform target detection, sharing, and prioritization, and execute coordinated swarm attacks autonomously.

The swarm intelligence architecture does not rely on a central control unit, allowing each UAV to independently make mission decisions. This distributed control structure ensures mission continuity even if one or more platforms are lost, significantly increasing mission success. Operating under the saturation attack concept, the system enables multiple UAVs to simultaneously navigate toward target areas, saturate enemy defenses, and neutralize them effectively.

STM’s algorithms enable UAVs within the swarm to engage targets based on their payload types. For example, UAVs equipped with anti-personnel or armor-piercing warheads can autonomously distinguish between personnel and vehicle targets and engage accordingly. The system also supports real-time swarm expansion or reduction, dynamic mission updates, and the execution of multiple sub-missions within the operational area.

Key Capabilities

• Swarm intelligence algorithms
• Saturation attack concept
• Distributed control architecture
• Inter-UAV communication infrastructure
• Autonomous formation generation and sustainment
• Collision avoidance system
• Real-time target detection and classification
• In-swarm task sharing
• Target prioritization and task assignment
• CRPA-enhanced anti-jam navigation
• GNSS-denied navigation with KERKES integration
• Swarm division and reunion
• Real-time swarm attachment and detachment

KARGU: The Choice of Global Armies

KARGU, a rotary-wing loitering munition system developed by STM, is also commonly referred to as a “kamikaze UAV.” Having entered the inventory of the Turkish Armed Forces in 2018, KARGU has been used effectively in counter-terrorism, special operations and cross-border missions by various security forces. Proven across diverse geographical and operational conditions, KARGU has been exported to 15 countries across four continents.

Depending on operational requirements, users can rapidly replace the anti-personnel warhead with an armour-piercing warhead in the field. With its low radar cross-section, KARGU is difficult to detect in hostile environments and can be easily carried by a single soldier and deployed within one minute in the operational area. Equipped with artificial intelligence and advanced image-processing capabilities, quiet operation and high-precision strike performance, KARGU provides a significant surprise effect and operational advantage. KARGU can operate effectively day and night thanks to its advanced electro-optical and infrared cameras. It has an endurance of more than 30 minutes and an operational range of 10 kilometres. The system is capable of swarm operations and, through STM-developed software, can perform missions independently of GNSS and remain resilient in electronic warfare environments.

To download the EFES 2026 Exercise – KARGU Swarm video

About STM

With over 35 years of experience, STM is a leading engineering and technology company developing advanced solutions in naval platforms, autonomous systems, command and control, and cybersecurity. Driven by innovation and strong engineering expertise, STM develops high-impact, scalable technologies for national and global security needs.

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