On Dec. 17, Turkey’s locally made tactical unmanned aerial vehicle Bayraktar TB2 fired an air-to-ground missile on its test flight. It was the first armed UAV flight and test firing in Turkey.

The Bayraktar TB2, with a 40-foot wingspan and 1,400-pound takeoff weight, has a 93-mile (150-kilometer) range. In its firing test from an altitude of 16,000 feet, it scored a perfect hit on a 2-square-yard target from a distance of 5 miles. It used a long-range, laser-guided anti-tank UMTAS missile produced by the state-owned weapons manufacturer Roketsan. Roketsan modified the missile, which operates on "fire-and-forget" mode, for TB2 use.

Although it is currently classified as a tactical drone because of altitude, range and payload limitations, the TB2 has significant symbolic importance for Ankara. Turkey is trying to have its say on armed UAV technology widely used in the region by the United States, China, Israel, Russia, Iran and Iraq.

The successful test, lavishly praised in the Turkish media, has eased some of Turkey's concerns. Since 2008, Congress has turned down Turkey's attempts to procure US-made MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper drones. All efforts by then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan with President Barack Obama and by then-Chief of General Staff Necdet Ozel with the Pentagon were futile.