The Turkish Aerospace Kaan fifth-generation fighter, otherwise known as the National Combat Aircraft (MMU) and formerly called the TF-X, made its maiden flight on 21 February 2024.
The Kaan took to the skies out of Turkish Aerospace’s production facilities near Ankara, escorted by a Turkish Air Force (TAF) F-16D. The aircraft was airborne for 13 minutes, reached an altitude of 8,000 ft (2,438 m) and achieved a speed of 230 kt (426 km/h), according to Turkish Aerospace.
The company’s website specifies the aircraft’s intended performance as achieving a speed of Mach 1.8 at 40,000 ft, a service ceiling of 55,000 ft and g limits of +9/-3.5 g. With a length of 21 m and a height of 6 m, the aircraft has a wingspan of 14 m.
The Kaan has been developed as a multi-role fighter to meet Turkish requirements from around 2030 by replacing the TAF’s fleet of F-16 fighters and is intended to be in service until the 2070s.
The TF-X development programme was initiated when Turkish Aerospace received a contract from the then Turkish Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (now the Defence Industry Agency – SSB) on 5 August 2016.
The Kaan prototype conducted its first taxi and ground tests on 16 March 2023 and was officially named in a ceremony on 1 May 2023. Although Turkish Aerospace indicated last year that the aircraft might fly by the end of 2023, the centenary year of the modern Turkish state, its maiden flight on 21 February nevertheless puts the aircraft’s development ahead of schedule as it was originally planned to make its first flight in 2025.
Development of the Kaan has become more significant for Turkey since the country was ejected from the US-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme in July 2019 after refusing to cancel a programme to buy Russian S-400 air defence systems, which would have compromised the F-35’s stealth characteristics.
Although indigenously designed and built, the Kaan prototype is currently powered by two US-sourced General Electric F110-GE-129 turbofans each delivering a thrust of 131.2 kN on full afterburner. On 2 July 2022 the SSB published an invitation to tender for the domestic development of a powerplant for the Kaan.
