Autonomous Aerial Combat Takes the Stage at TEKNOFEST 2026: Applications for the Combat UAV Hunter Drone Competition Continue! | TEKNOFEST

Autonomous Interception Mission in an Electronic Warfare Environment

The primary objective of the Combat UAV Hunter Drone Competition is for participating teams to develop systems capable of neutralizing aerial targets autonomously in a challenging electronic warfare simulation where Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals are subjected to jamming.

The mission begins with the drone autonomously navigating toward the area where the fixed-wing target UAV is located, while filtering corrupted and misleading GNSS data. Once it reaches the target zone, the system must detect and lock onto the target by distinguishing it from background clutter using image processing algorithms running at the ground station.

Following the tracking phase, the system is expected to make an autonomous engagement decision, perform a deliberate maneuver toward the target and complete the mission by executing a physical strike. Throughout this entire process, the flight platform itself does not host any decision-making mechanisms; all sensing, tracking and guidance commands are centrally executed through the ground control station.

In this respect, the competition aims to contribute to the development of critical technologies such as autonomous decision-making systems, computer vision, AI-based target tracking and advanced flight control algorithms.
 

Broad Participation from High School to University

Students studying in high schools (including open education), universities (associate, undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs, including open education) in Türkiye and abroad, as well as graduates, are eligible to participate. Teams must consist of at least 3 and at most 15 members.

By bringing together young talents from different disciplines, the competition creates an environment that encourages innovative ideas and technological advancements in the field of defense technologies.
 

Major Awards Await the Winning Teams

Teams that rank in the Combat UAV Hunter Drone Competition will receive significant prizes. The first-place team will be awarded 200,000 TL, the second-place team 175,000 TL, and the third-place team 150,000 TL.

We invite all young innovators who aim to develop cutting-edge solutions in defense technologies, autonomous systems and AI-powered aerial platforms to apply for the TEKNOFEST 2026 Combat UAV Hunter Drone Competition. 

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