Imma refer you to @Zafer s post that I link below
defencehub.live
well yes I mean in comparison to current inventories
We need to double down on domestic engine efforts. Once it's ready nothing can stop us from making 1000 Kaans. The world will never be the same after that.
Realistically it's more than enough for our regional ambitions.
Similar to what is happening in mobile phone networks technology a strategy involving Long Term Evolution can be adopted where you upgrade the platform in a continuous manner. In this case making high numbers of a single incarnation of a plane is not suitable and you want to have a mix of upgraded planes along the way. So after we have several dozen planes in our arsenal we can look to involve foreign buyers to keep production going.well yes I mean in comparison to current inventories
We need to double down on domestic engine efforts. Once it's ready nothing can stop us from making 1000 Kaans. The world will never be the same after that.
But I wonder at what point would we stop and focus on 6th gen... and if all the speculation of Kaan being a platform which will bridge generations is true. Kaan is certainly better equipped to make the leap than other 5th gen fighters. With the dynamism of the Turkish defence industry, we could see it gradually transform in the years after its introduction. If this is ends up being the case, we could see a ludicrous amount of Kaans. For now I'm happy with 250
Sadak is literally Aselsan's product, why would anyone else produce them?
In addition to the cost, good luck finding enough people to not just fly but also service those planes. Not to mention all the material needed to build everything necessary, from electronics to planes to spare parts to hangars.
If I remember correctly, TSK had 250 in mind from the beginning. 100 F-35s were supposed to be primarily for ground attack (replacing F4s), meanwhile, TFX was supposed to be a replacement for F-16s, but with more of an emphasis on air superiority. Now, Kaan will be our only manned combat aircraft long term (I'm not counting Hürjet). Even if we get 40 new F-16s, I don't see 250 Kaan as being unrealistic...
In the timeframe of a decade we can expect to be in financial surplus rather than deficit so we can have respectable numbers of anything starting in 5 years from now.
www.airandspaceforces.com
Experience has shown that the initial figures requested for the procurement of a weapons platform are never correct, regardless of the country, and are usually corrected downwards in each country.
Altınay was a subcontractor to Aselsan on SADAK, Aselsan has set the requirements and provided the design limits, Altınay produced the pneumatic rack to withstand. This is my argument, however knowing Aselsan-Altınay ties i am assured this is valid.
Aselsan is a state company and if SSB says that’s the way forward that will be the way forward. Aselsan may also want to decouple from some works in a bid to cut costs and manhours.
On top of this, every nation with a large air force is *still* buying 4.5th gen jets and/or upgrading their already existing fleets and the reason for that is the costs mention here. 5th gen planes are expensive to produce, maintain and fly, because of that, even nations that have easy access to these jets are not switching completely to 5th gen; unless they are small country with a small air force that expect others to do the heavy lifting in case of a war.To add to @boredaf ’s post; it has to be remembered that these are 5th generation planes. They are expensive to keep operational with a much lower operability percentage than 4th generation planes.
If we look at hourly flight cost alone of these :
These are astronomically high figures for 5th generation planes. US envisages, with today’s money, before the end of their life cycle the f35 fleet alone will cost them in excess of 1.8 trillion dollars. That is for 1763 planes they have pencilled in to be purchased at the beginning of the project and has not been changed to date. That is 1.02 billion dollars a plane.
- A-10 Thunderbolt: $22,531/hour
- F-16 Fighting Falcon: $26,927/hour
- F/A-18E/F Super Hornet: $30,404/hour
- F-22 Raptor: $85,325/hour
- F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: $41,986/hour
F35 is a 78million dollar a piece plane to buy for the consortium members. Our KAAN is going to be well above 100 million a piece. It is actually placed in between a f35 and a F22. So the operational costs of these planes are actually prohibitively high.
If these stealth features really work as expected, then they are going to be for limited use only. I can’t see airforces depending on just the internal payload when it is so costly to fly these planes. If you are going to use them mainly in beast mode and they are no longer stealthy, then it is not logical to spend so much more for a plane with such lower operational time than a 4th or 4+ generation fighter.
Our best bet would be to have at least 200 to 250 4+ generation fighters to complement the 100 or so Stealthy KAANs. Or alternatively , if we can manufacture and maintain KAANs cheaply in 4+ generation mode (which is a tall order for a twin engined plane), then make up the numbers with KAAN 4+ gen planes.
Where we are geographically and who our adversaries are around us dictates how many planes we should have. No one country, with the exception of US and China can afford to have the right numbers of planes to confront adversaries on their own. That is why we and the rest of the Western European countries are in NATO.
It Costs Tens of Thousands of Dollars Per Hour to Fly These U.S. Military Aircraft
And you thought car expenses were bad.www.popularmechanics.com
Congress Boosts Air Force 2024 Budget With More F-35s
Congress added three F-35s the Air Force didn't request in the final version of the fiscal 2024 appropriations bill.
And Aselsan has them on their website with their own label on. We just have to wait and see.
www.aselsan.com
