TR Air-Force TF-X KAAN Fighter Jet

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.

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.

@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.

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.

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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.

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.

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

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

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

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

Sanchez said:

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

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As it was planned to be.

As stated in this news piece, since the US Congress has not blocked the deal for the purchase of around 80 F110 engines for KAAN’s Block 10 & 20 production runs in the allotted 15 day period, the 736 million dollar deal has gone through.
But there are more hurdles to overcome now:

In the next phase, technical and commercial negotiations concerning the procurement of the F110 engines will continue between the US administration, the relevant government agencies, the engine manufacturer, and the appropriate Turkish authorities. Future discussions are expected to focus on the delivery schedule, engine integration, testing, and certification activities.

So now the question stands as : will these engines be delivered on time?

Yasar_TR said:

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/us-f110-jet-engine-sale-to-turkiye-to-proceed-as-congress-does-not-block-move/3994017

As stated in this news piece, since the US Congress has not blocked the deal for the purchase of around 80 F110 engines for KAAN’s Block 10 & 20 production runs , in the allotted 15 day period, the 736 million dollar deal has gone through.
But there are more hurdles to overcome now:

In the next phase, technical and commercial negotiations concerning the procurement of the F110 engines will continue between the US administration, the relevant government agencies, the engine manufacturer, and the appropriate Turkish authorities. Future discussions are expected to focus on the delivery schedule, engine integration, testing, and certification activities.

So now the question stands as : will these engines be delivered on time?

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Of course not but the goal is to get some engines to further the program,24 a year should be possible.
They(the lobbies) will try everything to delay deliveries but they(GE) must deliver according to contract.
Just like Germany with the U214's,delay delay delay but eventualy they delivered and caused the early start on the Milden.
I like the way they are helping us to be so pissed off at them that we excellerate our indigenous programs.

I am looking forward to seeing how this is going to be handled.

Considering TEI has experience assembling there could be a division of work, so we assemble half in Türkiye.

Let's see.

I thought TEI was capable of manufacturing at least 60–70% of the engine domestically and assembling it in full under licence.
I hope they have pushed ahead with some licensed production here at home.

IC3M@N FX said:

I thought TEI was capable of manufacturing at least 60–70% of the engine domestically and assembling it in full under licence.
I hope they have pushed ahead with some licensed production here at home.

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From what Arda mevlütoğlu said in Kaner Kurt's video. The engines will be produced by GE, we are not looking for licensed production. I don't remember the exact timestamp because it has been a while

Saithan said:

I am looking forward to seeing how this is going to be handled.

Considering TEI has experience assembling there could be a division of work, so we assemble half in Türkiye.

Let's see.

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If the decision were entirely up to TEI, I don't think they would accept it. Rather than dealing with new production planning, they would likely prefer to focus on their own products.