Then why bother putting a jet on the carrier at all? Both KE and Anka-3 has blos control already, with autonomous controls of drones ever progressing, by the time the carrier is ready we might not even have to control them at all. We can build Trakya and another 2 like it and other ships by the price 1 of one carrier if drones are to be its main force.
Turning a trainer into a naval jet to use in 2040s is utterly insane mate. It'll be far, far inferior to anything it might face by then. It's geometry isn't stealthy, it's payload is not even half of an F-16. Putting it on a carrier just to control drones that doesn't have to be controlled from a jet is illogical.
A carrier isn't something you half-arse, and putting Hürjet, even a modified one, on a carrier that is going to cost billions to design and build in 2040s is truly insane. At least with Kaan, especially imo a single engine Kaan, you have a 5th gen plane that could go toe-to-toe with any other out there.
The real question you should be asking is: Why bother building a MUGEM at all?
1. We don’t have a decent aircraft to do it justice.
2. The ship itself is too expensive to build and to maintain for a country like ours.
3. We don’t have the expertise and technologies to operate and build a 65000ton carrier that would be commensurate with the needs of a ship of that caliber. We will be learning it as we are building it.
Yes, drone ships would be more useful than a carrier to us.
Hell! We don’t even have suitable helicopters to operate from our LHD. We are having to make do with used, old US AH1Ws. We have not enough Seahawk class platforms. Our c47s are not navalised. So unsuitable for it.
That carrier will need as many helicopters as the LHD.
(All our frigates and the TF2000s will need 2 Seahawk Class helicopters each as they are designed to accommodate two)
And we are contemplating furnishing our carrier with stealthy jets, that will be oversized and overpriced for that job.
Designing a stealth navalised fighter jet is going to take many years. First we have to get KAAN in to inventory of our Air Force. Then let it mature before we can go back to the drawing board to design a navalised stealth aircraft.
Our naval specialists must see the feasibility of navalising and using Hurjets from the carrier rather than KAAN. That is why both is on the discussion table. To see which is the right way, and more importantly the feasible way to go.
Do you think it would be easy to navalise Hurjet? It would take years too. But at least it is more readily available. Simpler to work on. Its size would be an advantage. Once fortified with a more powerful engine, a new Aesa radar and modern avionics, it can operate as a capable fighter. What will make KE and Anka-3 most effective and game changer class weapons, will be their capability to be used in loyal wingman format and be controlled by Hurjets against enemy targets and planes. On their own they may each have weaknesses. But when they join forces they become lethal.
In fact a simpler and even cheaper solution would be to purchase a couple of squadrons of navalised Typhoons to add to the ones we are planning to order now. It would save us developing a plane for the carrier, if and when we have it built.
While the competition between six international aircraft manufacturers moves on, some of the competitors are already looking a step further, positioning their respective platforms addressing possible interest from the Indian Navy.
defense-update.com
