The Turkish 5th generation fighter aircraft KAAN made its maiden flight.
The prototype of the fighter jet took off this morning from Ankara’s Murted Military Airport. In fact, the KAAN aircraft is planned to join the Turkish Air Force in 2028.
“It took off at 08.50 and landed at 09.01. The crew said the flight was very successful. It took off and landed successfully. An F-16 took off in front of him. There is a lot of excitement,” explained Fulya Öztürk, CNN Turkey’s special news director.
“Once the KAAN goes into mass production, the Turkish Air Force will become the most powerful air force in the region, including Israel,” former General Staff Intelligence Chief Lt. Gen. İsmail Hakkı Pekin said. While at the same time, he stated that the characteristics of the KAAN are superior to the F-35, as noted by Hurriyet.
Russia’s comments on the KAAN fighter
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.”
The characteristics of the KAAN fighter aircraft
It is a low-visibility Stealth technology aircraft designed by the Turkish Aviation Industry with a subcontractor from the British BAE Systems, after the US decision to exclude Ankara from the F-35 program.
KAAN is 21 meters long and its wingspan reaches 14 meters. Now, Turkey is one of the few countries, which produces 5th generation aircraft.
The KAAN fighter is a twin-engine all-weather aircraft. The Turkish side aims with the development of this particular generation of aircraft to replace the F-16, but also to promote its war industry in other countries.
The main characteristics of the KAAN fighter aircraft are:
- Improved aerodynamics and propulsion.
- Supercruise, allows it to develop supersonic speeds, without using an afterburner.
- Adequate and optimized combat radius.
- Advanced and internal multispectral sensors (EW and RF/IR), it can detect hundreds of enemies and thousands of meters away thanks to its Turkish technology radar.
- Low observability, with its special paint it manages to reduce its mark on enemy radars.
- Pairing sensor and autonomy.
- Improved data connection capabilities for network-enabled warfare.
- Stand-off high-precision weapons, which will be air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions produced entirely in Turkey.
“It will take 10 years to start mass production of KAAN. However, after mass production, the Turkish Air Force will become the most powerful air force in the region, including Israel.” He also stated that the majority of the air fleet will consist of KAAN and the rest will consist of modernized F-16s.
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