The first flight of the “invisible” fighter designed by Turkey

Its “maiden” flight was carried out by the 5th generation KAAN fighter aircraft designed by Turkey. The prototype of the fighter jet took off this morning from Ankara’s Murted military airport.

It is planned to join the force of the Turkish Air Force in 2028. It is a low-visibility Stealth technology aircraft designed by the Turkish Aerospace Industry with a subcontractor of the British BAE Systems, after the US decision to exclude Ankara from the F-35 program.

What the consul general of Russia reported

Also, at the same time, the consul general of Russia in Istanbul reportedly stated that his country is ready to cooperate in the construction of the Turkish 5th generation fighter.

According to the nationalist Eurasian-oriented newspaper Aydinlik, when asked about this, Andrei Buravov replied: “We are also interested in the development of military and technical cooperation in this matter. The relevant companies and units have expressed their readiness to cooperate.”

Watch the video



The capabilities of the new fighter

The name of Turkey’s fighter jet, known as TF-X, is KAAN, and according to Turkey’s president, it was given by Devlet Bakhceli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement of Turkey (MHP). It is noted that Kaan is a historical title used by the rulers of Turkic and Mongolian states.

The Turkish fighter has now completed the testing process. The fifth-generation aircraft, KAAN, was developed by TAI with the aim of gradually replacing the Turkish military’s aging fleet of F-16s. With this aircraft, the Turkish Republic becomes one of the five countries that have such technologies.

The aircraft began to be built in 2016, and was given to the Turkish military for use at the end of December. It is 21 meters long, can reach a maximum speed of mach 1.8 thanks to its two engines, which can produce 29,000 pounds (13,000 kg) of thrust each.

KAAN has various features including high situational awareness, optimized pilot workload, combat damage detection, next generation mission systems, low observability, precision strike and internal weapons bay.