TR Air-Force TF-X KAAN Fighter Jet

mehmed beg · Jun 29, 2026

I don't know how much of mistake the purchase of S400 was. What mid to long range air defence system Turkiye had till Super came along?
All the event around the country and without any viable air defences?
They practically forced Turkiye into buying S400.
F35 , if it is received quickly, can help development of KAAN, quicker development of air tactics and if F35Bs are acquired, then Anladolu or future LHD can be more effective and in the case of the war , the assets can be spread around the country.
But, considering the availability, costs , strings attached and money needed, 2 squadrons aren't that much of difference. If Turkey wasn't excluded in the production of the planes and wasn't forced to spend for the " alternatives" then this project could have been very useful. All of this is designed to take the money away from KAAN project

Yasar_TR · Jun 29, 2026

Off topic posts are deleted.
Please stay on topic and not divert discussion.
This is “TFX-KAAN Fighter Jet“ thread.

Pokemonte13 · Jun 29, 2026

mehmed beg said:
I don't know how much of mistake the purchase of S400 was. What mid to long range air defence system Turkiye had till Super came along?
All the event around the country and without any viable air defences?
They practically forced Turkiye into buying S400.
F35 , if it is received quickly, can help development of KAAN, quicker development of air tactics and if F35Bs are acquired, then Anladolu or future LHD can be more effective and in the case of the war , the assets can be spread around the country.
But, considering the availability, costs , strings attached and money needed, 2 squadrons aren't that much of difference. If Turkey wasn't excluded in the production of the planes and wasn't forced to spend for the " alternatives" then this project could have been very useful. All of this is designed to take the money away from KAAN project

Only partially true there were some opposition to us buying patriot but the real reason why we didn’t get it was firstly we wanted transfer of technology (or at least some local industry involved) secondly price the American as always sell stuff to us at a high price as most foreign countries. There were two instances were they (offered) patriot 2010 and 2018. If we had bought the f35 Kaan would have taken longer in its development. Overall without the arms restrictions imposed by the USA starting in 2016 our localisation would have have taken longer remember istif was supposed to have Mk 41 and Thales rader…

Fatman17 · Jul 4, 2026

Trump Administration moves to approve F110 engine sale to Turkey for Kaan fighters

The deal has apparently not received congressional approval, as is typical for large exports of military systems.

share.google

F-110 engine for KAAN

Bogeyman · Jul 4, 2026

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2073445416385892725

Head of Defense Industry Haluk Görgün: "As you know, we shared the test flights with the public. We gained some experience and information from those test flights. The production of these test prototypes has begun before mass production. We currently have 6 prototypes. The production of these prototypes continues.

-Some of these prototypes will be used in ground tests, and some in flight tests. With this approach, we actually planned to shorten the process, which could otherwise take longer, and we are continuing within this plan."

IC3M@N FX · Jul 5, 2026

What do you think guys? – How likely is it that, during the NATO summit, the PT1 will fly over the heads of the guests on its maiden flight, just to wipe the smiles off their faces (Grecce and France/Germany -> FCAS Failure)?

Fatman17 · Jul 5, 2026

Turkey's Plans for Domestic KAAN Fighter Depend on American Engines, While Their Export Has Already Begun to Be Blocked in U.S. Again

Defense Express
July 4, 2026
5820

TAI KAAN stealth air superiority fighter

If Turkey cannot purchase F110 engines for $700 million, then the KAAN serial fighters will be able to fly only sometime in the 2030s.

Resolutions passed in the US Congress.

Zafer · Jul 5, 2026

Fatman17 said:
Turkey's Plans for Domestic KAAN Fighter Depend on American Engines, While Their Export Has Already Begun to Be Blocked in U.S. Again
Defense Express
July 4, 2026
5820

TAI KAAN stealth air superiority fighter

If Turkey cannot purchase F110 engines for $700 million, then the KAAN serial fighters will be able to fly only sometime in the 2030s.
Resolutions passed in the US Congress.

Plan B

Make your own engine even faster, deploy it in time for when the F110 engines were supposed to be used, in 2028 or the latest in 2029.
Boot the GE out the door.
Leave them alone with their misery.

Sanchez · Jul 5, 2026

Fatman17 said:
While Their Export Has Already Begun to Be Blocked in U.S. Again

No, it hasn't.

IC3M@N FX · Jul 5, 2026

If the US Congress (both the House of Representatives and the Senate) attempts to block the $700 million deal for the GE F110 engines for the Turkish TAI KAAN program, Donald Trump has two highly effective legal mechanisms to push the sale through anyway.
US arms export law (specifically the Arms Export Control Act / AECA) is structurally designed to give the executive branch the upper hand in foreign and national security policy.
Here are the concrete options Trump can utilize:

1. The Presidential Veto

For Congress to block an arms sale, both chambers must pass a Joint Resolution of Disapproval within a strict statutory timeframe—which is 15 calendar days for NATO allies like Turkey after formal notification.

Trump's Counter: If Congress manages to pass the resolution, the President can simply issue a presidential veto.
The Congressional Hurdle: To override a presidential veto, Congress requires a two-thirds majority in both the House and the Senate. In US history, Congress has never successfully overridden a veto on an arms export. Achieving such a massive bipartisan supermajority against Trump’s explicit policy goals is politically highly improbable.

2. The Emergency Declaration

Section 36 of the Arms Export Control Act contains a built-in escape clause for the executive branch. If the President formally states that "an emergency exists which requires the proposed sale in the national security interests of the United States," the mandatory congressional review period is completely waived.

Trump's Counter: He can bypass Congress entirely via an executive decree, framing the engine delivery as vital for securing NATO’s southern flank or stabilizing the Black Sea region. The State Department can then issue the export licenses to General Electric immediately.
Precedent: Trump famously used this exact lever during his first term (May 2019) to bypass a blocking Congress for an $8.1 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

3. Administrative Tranching and Strategy

Should Trump want to avoid a direct, high-profile clash with Capitol Hill, his administration can use tactical adjustments under the America First Arms Transfer Strategy:

Splitting the Order: The administration could theoretically break the large order down into smaller individual packages or maintenance contracts that fall below the statutory dollar-value thresholds requiring formal congressional notification. While legally complex for a major engine program, it serves as a method to blur the lines of congressional oversight.
Unless Congress can muster a historic, veto-proof two-thirds majority in both chambers, it can only delay, debate, and politically criticize the deal—it cannot fundamentally stop it. If Trump chooses to use the F110 engines as a geopolitical tool, the legal authority rests firmly in his hands.

Click to expand...

This raises the question of whether Trump has Balls of Steel to override Congress and the Senate. After all, to announce on national television that he would be giving Turkey and Erdogan a gift that would make him happy, only to turn up empty-handed, would be a scandal and a huge embarrassment.

myNameJeff-17 · Jul 5, 2026

IC3M@N FX said:
1. The Presidential Veto
For Congress to block an arms sale, both chambers must pass a Joint Resolution of Disapproval within a strict statutory timeframe—which is 15 calendar days for NATO allies like Turkey after formal notification.

Trump's Counter: If Congress manages to pass the resolution, the President can simply issue a presidential veto.

The Congressional Hurdle: To override a presidential veto, Congress requires a two-thirds majority in both the House and the Senate. In US history, Congress has never successfully overridden a veto on an arms export. Achieving such a massive bipartisan supermajority against Trump’s explicit policy goals is politically highly improbable.

Isn't the 15 day period over on Thursday?

Oublious · Jul 5, 2026

myNameJeff-17 said:
Isn't the 15 day period over on Thursday?

Yes that will be 9th July.

IC3M@N FX · Jul 5, 2026

Some will certainly disagree, but Güçhan (28000 - 30000 lbf) was essentially a Trump Card

, as the MSB Research and Development Centre has neither Factories nor test Center, let alone the technological know-how in Engine Manufacturing or the relevant metallurgical formulas and expertise. I believe that the Air Supply and Maintenance Centre (1. Hava İkmal Bakım Merkezi) in Eskişehir, which is capable of carrying out comprehensive maintenance work and manufacturing spare parts, could, in collaboration with a partner, assemble a F-110 ‘Frankenstein’ engine as Güçhan using its own parts and spare parts from stock – there aren’t that many engine manufacturers in Turkey, if you take TEI out of the equation; that could have helped – perhaps with Kale in an advisory role? According to the Ministry of Defence, there are six operational prototypes; I believe this to be the case, they made up of Original Parts, Spare Parts and in-house Parts/Components.
If this allows the number of engines in the depot to be stretched (more units), and given that the F-110 Frankenstein Engine ultimately has a service life maybe 700–800 operating hours
(Original F-110 5000 -6000 operating hours), it will still be sufficient to get 20–30 TAI KAANs airborne for 3–4 years from 2029 to 2032/33. At the same time, TEI would have enough time for the TEI TF-35000; I believe that the US and GE had concrete information that Turkey is/was able to extend & stretched the service life of its F-110 Engines as ‘Frankenstein’ Designs using original parts with own parts until its own TEI TF 35000 Engine is ready.

Let’s assume Güçhan is bluff or Hoax – after years of Deadlock, the delivery of F-110 engines is suddenly pushed through, and all of a sudden Trump thinks it’s brilliant to make Turkey happy – sorry, but I don’t buy that. They have hard evidence that Turkey is capable of doing this, and they’re afraid of losing complete control. They want to secure at least a window of opportunity until 2033/34 – by then, according to their logic, a lot could still happen.

TheInsider · Jul 5, 2026

As i have written in another topic, Güçhan is a conceptual/feasibility study and continuation of the F110 identical copy project. The project involves a near-complete redesign of the F110 engine, increasing the bypass ratio, a new single-piece blisk compressor, a new turbine that uses 3rd gen single cristal blades+a new thermal barrier coating (1 generation increase compared to F110) to increase turbine inlet temperature to ~1800 degree santigrad. CAD/CAE studies conducted and showed 42k lb thrust is possible on paper with all of those improvements/redesigns. Currently, there are no plans to continue this project.

F110 identical copy project is basically old F110 engines we have in depot+ spare parts we can source via NATO, local producers or we have in stock+ Tubitak MAM 2nd generation single crystal blades + military factory test infrastructure.

Turkic · Jul 5, 2026

@TheInsider Is it possible for us to see Kaan P1 flying before the NATO summit ends? If you know anything that we shouldn't know, please keep it to yourself. All I want to know is if it's off the table or not.

TheInsider · Jul 5, 2026

Turkic said:
@TheInsider Is it possible for us to see Kaan P1 flying before the NATO summit ends? If you know anything that we shouldn't know, please keep it to yourself. All I want to know is if it's off the table or not.

Kaan is delayed due to subsystems delays. I doubt we will see KAAN P1 flying before the NATO summit. We want to integrate certain subsytems on the flight prototype before the first flight.

The original plan was to execute the P1 first flight with bare minimum systems at early 2026/Q1 2026 and complete integration of major subsystems(like EOTS, IRST Radar) before Q3 2026 and achieve a complete flight prototype with all major subsystems on board. The plan changed in favor of lets integrate what we can first and fly after that. I expect P1 first flight in September. The P1 can still fly with a similar setup compared to P0.

Turkic · Jul 5, 2026

TheInsider said:
Kaan is delayed due to subsystems delays. I doubt we will see KAAN P1 flying before the NATO summit. We want to integrate certain subsytems on the flight prototype before the first flight.

The original plan was to execute the P1 first flight with bare minimum systems at early 2026/Q1 2026 and complete integration of major subsystems(like EOTS, IRST Radar) before Q3 2026 and achieve a complete flight prototype with all major subsystems on board. The plan changed in favor of lets integrate what we can first and fly after that. I expect P1 first flight in September. The P1 can still fly with a similar setup compared to P0.

Thanks for the information. Espacially about the original and current plans.

MonteCarlo · Jul 9, 2026

Apparently the motors were removed from Kaan-p0. When asked for the reason head engineer said "We don't have motors to waste". Kinda expected but also interesting

Sanchez · Jul 9, 2026

MonteCarlo said:
Apparently the motors were removed from Kaan-p0. When asked for the reason head engineer said "We don't have motors to waste". Kinda expected but also interesting

P0/GTU has been little more than a ground prototype for some time.

Spitfire9 · Jul 9, 2026

Sanchez said:
P0/GTU has been little more than a ground prototype for some time.

As it was planned to be.

TR Air-Force TF-X KAAN Fighter Jet

Contributor

Experienced member

Contributor

Experienced member

Experienced member

Contributor

Experienced member

Turkey's Plans for Domestic KAAN Fighter Depend on American Engines, While Their Export Has Already Begun to Be Blocked in U.S. Again​

If Turkey cannot purchase F110 engines for $700 million, then the KAAN serial fighters will be able to fly only sometime in the 2030s.​

Experienced member

Turkey's Plans for Domestic KAAN Fighter Depend on American Engines, While Their Export Has Already Begun to Be Blocked in U.S. Again​

If Turkey cannot purchase F110 engines for $700 million, then the KAAN serial fighters will be able to fly only sometime in the 2030s.​

Experienced member

While Their Export Has Already Begun to Be Blocked in U.S. Again​

Contributor

1. The Presidential Veto​

2. The Emergency Declaration​

3. Administrative Tranching and Strategy​

Member

1. The Presidential Veto​

Experienced member

Contributor

Experienced member

Well-known member

Experienced member

Well-known member

Committed member

Experienced member

Contributor

Follow us on social media

About us

Newest members

Turkey's Plans for Domestic KAAN Fighter Depend on American Engines, While Their Export Has Already Begun to Be Blocked in U.S. Again

If Turkey cannot purchase F110 engines for $700 million, then the KAAN serial fighters will be able to fly only sometime in the 2030s.

Turkey's Plans for Domestic KAAN Fighter Depend on American Engines, While Their Export Has Already Begun to Be Blocked in U.S. Again

If Turkey cannot purchase F110 engines for $700 million, then the KAAN serial fighters will be able to fly only sometime in the 2030s.

While Their Export Has Already Begun to Be Blocked in U.S. Again

1. The Presidential Veto

2. The Emergency Declaration

3. Administrative Tranching and Strategy

1. The Presidential Veto