TR TF-X KAAN Fighter Jet

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Zafer

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Mockup or prototype? Mockup is just a "doll" a prototype is an actual working jet that is just uncomplete? Which one is it?
There is a ready made mockup, one can easily assume that this is the mockup as there has not been any news regarding the start of assembly of the actual prototype. At the moment we safely have 14 months to the rollout where the prototype will presumably make its first public appearance. I think we will not see the prototype body assembled before another 9 months pass.
 

Indos

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I'm kind of confused. Everybody offered trainers and light-attack aircraft but Russia's only offer apperantly was the Mig-35 ?

Maybe because the price is actually competitive to the LCA offered by Korean, Turkish, India
 

Hexciter

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Turkey’s new indigenous fifth-generation National Combat Aircraft or MMU (Milli Muharip Uçak) has assumed a new importance in recent years

Jon Lake


The Turkish Ministry of Defence has been forced to chart a new course forward following Turkey’s unceremonious dismissal from the US-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Its removal was a result of Ankara’s procurement of the Russian S-400 air defense missile system, which triggered action under the US CAATSA (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) legislation.

The Turkish Air Force always planned to base its future force structure around a high:low mix of fighter aircraft types. About 100 F-35s were originally to have provided the ‘high end’ element – accounting for about 25% of the force and replacing the 30 or so F-4E-2020 Phantoms. The new MMU (Milli Muharip Uçak – MMU), previously known as the TF-X, was intended to be the cheaper, less capable element in the high:low mix, replacing the Air Force’s 238 F-16C/Ds.

With the termination of the F-35 acquisition, these plans have changed. The F-4E is likely to serve a little longer and the MMU will form the ‘high end’ element in the future force, with the F-16 being retained beyond the planned 2030 OSD (for the Block 30 and 40) to operate alongside the MMU. Extending the life of the F-16 like this should fulfi l Turkish air defense requirements in the short- to medium term. Thereafter a development of the MMU might better fill the high-end platform requirement.

A total of 250 of these stealthy tactical fighter aircraft are due to be procured between 2029-2040, for service from the 2030s to the 2070s. The program is now designated as a “national survival project”.

Three-phase program


The MMU program will be divided into three. Phase One, Stage One began in 2018 and will run until 2023-2024. This phase will include the System Requirements Review (SRR), scheduled for this year, which will see the Air Force’s operational requirements transformed into objective, measurable plans.

A System Functional Review (SFR) will take place at the end of 2021 and will break down the requirements at a system level while also setting the key user requirements (KURs). Late 2022 will see the Preliminary Design Review and the finalizing of the aircraft’s detailed preliminary design in terms of its shape, sensors and sub-systems. A challenging timeline will be facilitated through the use of a ‘digital twin’, using Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) platform.

Phase One, Stage Two will begin in 2023-2024 and will include more detailed design and qualification. There will be three Block ‘0’ development aircraft and the first prototype will be rolled out on March 18, 2023. This is an auspicious date for Turks, as it will be the 108th anniversary of what we know as the Gallipoli campaign, but which Turkey remembers as the famous naval victory of Çanakkale, the prelude to the Turkish war of independence. The year 2023 marks the centenary of independence and of the foundation of the Republic of Turkey as a modern and secular nation state. Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) President and CEO, Professor Temel Kotil has said that the prototype will make its maiden flight in 2026, following the Critical Design Review in mid-2024.

These three prototypes will each be powered by two General Electric F110 engines, although later aircraft are expected to use indigenous engines. Abdurrahman Şeref Can, head of the

Aircraft Department of the SSB (the organization appointed to manage the country’s defense industry) has said that the first aircraft to leave the hangar will to all intents and purposes be a fourth-generation jet. Phase Two will begin in late 2028 and will include the delivery of ten Block One aircraft to the Turkish Air Force between 2030-2033. Phase Three will begin in 2034 with follow-on Blocks being delivered that year and into the future. The resulting MMU will be a true fifth generation fighter, not just using an F-35-type configuration but also LO-appropriate materials, coatings, sensors and systems, and with supercruise capabilities as well as stealth.

TAI's Advanced Carbon Composites fuselage facility, which was previously tasked with producing F-35 fuselages, will develop an Advanced Carbon Composite fuselage for the TF-X, using new lighter carbon composite thermoplastic materials developed at the urging of SSM.

And like NGAD, Tempest and the Franco-German FCAS, The TF-X will actually be a system of systems and not just a fighter aircraft platform, though TAI seem to have missed a trick by not marketing it as such. The aircraft is, however, equipped with encrypted data links that will allow it to control accompanying loyal wingmen and swarming drones.

Loyal Wingman


Perhaps the most important of these is the new MİUS (Muharip Insansiz Ucak Sistemi) Unmanned Combat Aircraft System, which was first unveiled on July 20 at Turkey's

International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF) exhibition. This low observable UCAV will be used as a ‘loyal wingman’ to support the National Combat Aircraft and as a light attack aircraft on board the new Turkish amphibious assault landing ship (LHD) TCG Anadolu. MİUS will fill the gap left by the cancellation of the Turkish F-35, since the VTOL F-35B had been expected to form the backbone of the Anadolu’s air wing. Due to fly in 2023, MİUS will have an aggressive AI-based autonomous maneuvering capability giving it the ability to carry out air-to-air missions.

The MİUS will also perform strategic attack, missile attack and close air support missions, as well as the suppression of enemy air defenses and is expected to have an endurance of up to five hours. The aircraft has an internal weapons bay, but on missions where low observability (‘stealth’) is not critical, the MİUS will carry missiles and other weapons underwing.


The MMU’s sensors and systems are domestically developed and highly integrated. The Integrated Electro-Optical System (IEOS) includes a dedicated Infrared Search and Track (IRST) sensor and an Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS). The so-called ‘IRFS’ incorporates Electronic Warfare (EW) systems and a new active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar being developed by Aselsan using the latest gallium nitride (GaN) technology. Professor Kotil has publicly highlighted and emphasized the involvement of Turkish companies in the design and development of the MMU, which he says will ensure the operational sovereignty of the aircraft: “We have Aselsan for avionics and computer hardware, we have Havelsan for software, TAI also has its software team.”

The MMU is optimized as an air superiority fighter but has a robust secondary ground attack capability. In the air-to-air role, the aircraft’s armament options will include Meteor, AMRAAM and MICA, as well as the indigenous Gökdoğan missile, while short range weapons will include AIM-9X, ASRAAM, and the Turkish Bozdoğan missile.

Indigenous weapons options

The MMU will enjoy a range of air-to-ground weapon options, including a newly developed reconnaissance pod. In LO configuration, the MMU will have only a modest 1,000lb weapon load, but when LO is not required, the aircraft has six external hardpoints, allowing it to carry significantly more.


Specific air-to-ground weapons include the indigenous SOM (Satha Atılan Orta Menzilli Mühimmat) next-generation cruise missile developed by TÜBİTAK SAGE and manufactured by Roketsan. Variants include the SOM-B1 with infrared terminal matching, the SOM-B2 with a dual-stage penetrator warhead and the compressed carriage SOM-J, which was originally designed for internal carriage by the F-35, with folding control surfaces and a booster.

Another indigenous weapon is Roketsan’s Akbaba (Vulture) supersonic, anti-radiation missile, though it is thought that Turkey is also hoping to acquire MBDA’s SPEAR-EW for the SEAD role. The aircraft is also likely to carry a range of free fall bombs, including the Teber series (using a Roketsan Laser Guidance Kit), the LHGK-series (with a TUBITAK-SAGE Laser Guidance Kit), the HGK-series (using a TUBITAK-SAGE Precision Guidance Kit), the KGK-series (with a TUBITAK-SAGE Wing Assisted Guidance Kit) and the SARB- and NEB- bunker busting weapons families.

In the longer term, MMU is reportedly likely to incorporate laser directed energy and electromagnetic pulse weapons.

From Combat Aircraft's Jan'22 issue
 
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Cabatli_TR

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"In the very near future, Turkey will make its own aircraft engine and compete with the world. We will continue on our way by taking further steps in our national defense. The imperialist powers know that if Turkey continues this march, Turkey will establish its national defense system, air defense system, and produce its own national engine within a few years."

 

Knowledgeseeker

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"In the very near future, Turkey will make its own aircraft engine and compete with the world. We will continue on our way by taking further steps in our national defense. The imperialist powers know that if Turkey continues this march, Turkey will establish its national defense system, air defense system, and produce its own national engine within a few years."

Hayde turkiye🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷. Hole muslim world is behind you!
 

Huelague

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Turkey’s new indigenous fi fith-generation National Combat Aircraft or MMU (Milli Muharip Uçak) has assumed a new importance in recent years

Jon Lake


The Turkish Ministry of Defence has been forced to chart a new course forward following Turkey’s unceremonious dismissal from the US-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Its removal was a result of Ankara’s procurement of the Russian S-400 air defense missile system, which triggered action under the US CAATSA (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) legislation.

The Turkish Air Force always planned to base its future force structure around a high:low mix of fighter aircraft types. About 100 F-35s were originally to have provided the ‘high end’ element – accounting for about 25% of the force and replacing the 30 or so F-4E-2020 Phantoms. The new MMU (Milli Muharip Uçak – MMU), previously known as the TF-X, was intended to be the cheaper, less capable element in the high:low mix, replacing the Air Force’s 238 F-16C/Ds.

With the termination of the F-35 acquisition, these plans have changed. The F-4E is likely to serve a little longer and the MMU will form the ‘high end’ element in the future force, with the F-16 being retained beyond the planned 2030 OSD (for the Block 30 and 40) to operate alongside the MMU. Extending the life of the F-16 like this should fulfi l Turkish air defense requirements in the short- to medium term. Thereafter a development of the MMU might better fill the high-end platform requirement.

A total of 250 of these stealthy tactical fighter aircraft are due to be procured between 2029-2040, for service from the 2030s to the 2070s. The program is now designated as a “national survival project”.

Three-phase program


The MMU program will be divided into three. Phase One, Stage One began in 2018 and will run until 2023-2024. This phase will include the System Requirements Review (SRR), scheduled for this year, which will see the Air Force’s operational requirements transformed into objective, measurable plans.

A System Functional Review (SFR) will take place at the end of 2021 and will break down the requirements at a system level while also setting the key user requirements (KURs). Late 2022 will see the Preliminary Design Review and the finalizing of the aircraft’s detailed preliminary design in terms of its shape, sensors and sub-systems. A challenging timeline will be facilitated through the use of a ‘digital twin’, using Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) platform.

Phase One, Stage Two will begin in 2023-2024 and will include more detailed design and qualification. There will be three Block ‘0’ development aircraft and the first prototype will be rolled out on March 18, 2023. This is an auspicious date for Turks, as it will be the 108th anniversary of what we know as the Gallipoli campaign, but which Turkey remembers as the famous naval victory of Çanakkale, the prelude to the Turkish war of independence. The year 2023 marks the centenary of independence and of the foundation of the Republic of Turkey as a modern and secular nation state. Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) President and CEO, Professor Temel Kotil has said that the prototype will make its maiden flight in 2026, following the Critical Design Review in mid-2024.

These three prototypes will each be powered by two General Electric F110 engines, although later aircraft are expected to use indigenous engines. Abdurrahman Şeref Can, head of the

Aircraft Department of the SSB (the organization appointed to manage the country’s defense industry) has said that the first aircraft to leave the hangar will to all intents and purposes be a fourth-generation jet. Phase Two will begin in late 2028 and will include the delivery of ten Block One aircraft to the Turkish Air Force between 2030-2033. Phase Three will begin in 2034 with follow-on Blocks being delivered that year and into the future. The resulting MMU will be a true fifth generation fighter, not just using an F-35-type configuration but also LO-appropriate materials, coatings, sensors and systems, and with supercruise capabilities as well as stealth.

TAI's Advanced Carbon Composites fuselage facility, which was previously tasked with producing F-35 fuselages, will develop an Advanced Carbon Composite fuselage for the TF-X, using new lighter carbon composite thermoplastic materials developed at the urging of SSM.

And like NGAD, Tempest and the Franco-German FCAS, The TF-X will actually be a system of systems and not just a fighter aircraft platform, though TAI seem to have missed a trick by not marketing it as such. The aircraft is, however, equipped with encrypted data links that will allow it to control accompanying loyal wingmen and swarming drones.

Loyal Wingman


Perhaps the most important of these is the new MİUS (Muharip Insansiz Ucak Sistemi) Unmanned Combat Aircraft System, which was first unveiled on July 20 at Turkey's

International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF) exhibition. This low observable UCAV will be used as a ‘loyal wingman’ to support the National Combat Aircraft and as a light attack aircraft on board the new Turkish amphibious assault landing ship (LHD) TCG Anadolu. MİUS will fill the gap left by the cancellation of the Turkish F-35, since the VTOL F-35B had been expected to form the backbone of the Anadolu’s air wing. Due to fly in 2023, MİUS will have an aggressive AI-based autonomous maneuvering capability giving it the ability to carry out air-to-air missions.

The MİUS will also perform strategic attack, missile attack and close air support missions, as well as the suppression of enemy air defenses and is expected to have an endurance of up to five hours. The aircraft has an internal weapons bay, but on missions where low observability (‘stealth’) is not critical, the MİUS will carry missiles and other weapons underwing.


The MMU’s sensors and systems are domestically developed and highly integrated. The Integrated Electro-Optical System (IEOS) includes a dedicated Infrared Search and Track (IRST) sensor and an Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS). The so-called ‘IRFS’ incorporates Electronic Warfare (EW) systems and a new active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar being developed by Aselsan using the latest gallium nitride (GaN) technology. Professor Kotil has publicly highlighted and emphasized the involvement of Turkish companies in the design and development of the MMU, which he says will ensure the operational sovereignty of the aircraft: “We have Aselsan for avionics and computer hardware, we have Havelsan for software, TAI also has its software team.”

The MMU is optimized as an air superiority fighter but has a robust secondary ground attack capability. In the air-to-air role, the aircraft’s armament options will include Meteor, AMRAAM and MICA, as well as the indigenous Gökdoğan missile, while short range weapons will include AIM-9X, ASRAAM, and the Turkish Bozdoğan missile.

Indigenous weapons options

The MMU will enjoy a range of air-to-ground weapon options, including a newly developed reconnaissance pod. In LO configuration, the MMU will have only a modest 1,000lb weapon load, but when LO is not required, the aircraft has six external hardpoints, allowing it to carry significantly more.


Specific air-to-ground weapons include the indigenous SOM (Satha Atılan Orta Menzilli Mühimmat) next-generation cruise missile developed by TÜBİTAK SAGE and manufactured by Roketsan. Variants include the SOM-B1 with infrared terminal matching, the SOM-B2 with a dual-stage penetrator warhead and the compressed carriage SOM-J, which was originally designed for internal carriage by the F-35, with folding control surfaces and a booster.

Another indigenous weapon is Roketsan’s Akbaba (Vulture) supersonic, anti-radiation missile, though it is thought that Turkey is also hoping to acquire MBDA’s SPEAR-EW for the SEAD role. The aircraft is also likely to carry a range of free fall bombs, including the Teber series (using a Roketsan Laser Guidance Kit), the LHGK-series (with a TUBITAK-SAGE Laser Guidance Kit), the HGK-series (using a TUBITAK-SAGE Precision Guidance Kit), the KGK-series (with a TUBITAK-SAGE Wing Assisted Guidance Kit) and the SARB- and NEB- bunker busting weapons families.

In the longer term, MMU is reportedly likely to incorporate laser directed energy and electromagnetic pulse weapons.

From Combat Aircraft's Jan'22 issue
"Stealthy” not stealth. “Modest” internal bay...
 

CAN_TR

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The MMU is intended to become a air superiority fighter a slim body is required for high manueuverability, more than 2 x 500lb air-ground bombs inside is not possible that way. Same thing with the F-22.

It has two engines, need place for the internal fuel tanks, what did you expect? 2500lb like in the F-35A/C?
 

Yasar_TR

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This is not impressing. “...only modest 1,000lb weapon load..”.
It should have enough space to accommodate a2a missiles and a Som-j .
Mr Gurcan Okumus of Tubitak/Sage, specifically iterated that the TFX will be able accommodate a Som-j missile in it’s internal bays.
I wouldn’t take everything written in media as gospel.
 

tayyare

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It wouldn’t make sense if the loadout can’t accomodate at least 4 AMRAAM + 2 Sidewinder equivalent. AMRAAM is 3.7 meter long, 180mm width. SOM- J is 3.9 meter long and roughly 550mm wide and high. You can nearly stack 6 AMRAAM missiles in its place. Don’t think it will fit internal bays without modification.
 

Yasar_TR

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It wouldn’t make sense if the loadout can’t accomodate at least 4 AMRAAM + 2 Sidewinder equivalent. AMRAAM is 3.7 meter long, 180mm width. SOM- J is 3.9 meter long and roughly 550mm wide and high. You can nearly stack 6 AMRAAM missiles in its place. Don’t think it will fit internal bays without modification.
Gürcan Okumuş’s own words:
“SOM-J, F-35 iç istasyonu için geliştirilen bir seyir füzesi olmakla beraber hem F-16'da hem Milli Muharip Uçağımızın (MMU) iç istasyonunda kullanılabilecek çok yetenekli önemli bir seyir füzemiz.”

“Som-J is a very capable cruise missile that can be used from the internal bays of our MMU(TFX) as well as with F16s.”

 
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