TURKEY’S FIRST FIFTH-GEN KAAN FIGHTER TAKES FLIGHT
- Turkey’s first fifth-gen Kaan fighter takes flight
By
Cem Dogut 27th February 2024
NEWS
Turkey’s first domestically developed manned combat aircraft – which is now dubbed the Kaan (formerly known as the TF-X) – graced the skies for the first time on February 21, when it completed its maiden flight from Akinci Air Base near Ankara.
Barbaros Demirbaş, a test pilot working for
Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ), was in the cockpit of the Kaan
prototype when the domestically produced fifth-generation fighter took off from Akinci for its
maiden flight on February 21. The new fighter was accompanied by a
Turkish Air Force (TuAF)-operated
F-16D Fighting Falcon, which served as a chase aircraft for the Kaan’s first test sortie.
According to initial reports, the Kaan prototype was airborne for 13 minutes, reaching a height of 8,000ft and a speed of 230kts. For the test flight, the faceted enclosures for what appears to be both a dedicated infrared search-and-track (IRST) sensor system in front of the cockpit and a multi-purpose electro-optical targeting system (EOTS) underneath the forward fuselage have been removed.
With Barbaros Demirbaş, a TUSAŞ test pilot, at the controls, Turkey's first Kaan prototype (GTU/P0) got airborne for the first time at Akinci Air Base, near Ankara, on February 21, 2023. Note that the areas that would house the fifth-generation fighter's IRST sensor system (in front of the cockpit) and EOTS targeting system (underneath the forward fuselage) were covered up for this initial test sortie. TUSAŞ
In order to meet TuAF requirements beyond 2030, the Milli Muharip Uçak (MMU; National Combat Aircraft) development programme was launched on December 15, 2010. The MMU project aimed to deliver an indigenously developed fifth-generation air superiority fighter with a secondary ground attack capability that could meet the operational requirements of the TuAF from 2030 to 2070. Now formally known as the Kaan, the MMU is being developed by TUSAŞ (serving as the programme’s prime contractor) as a proposed single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather
multi-role fighter.
Over the course of the MMU programme, new capabilities and equipment will be added to the aircraft under a ‘Block Development Approach’, and in each Block, the ratio of locally produced content will increase. The Block 0, Block 10 (2029) and Block 20 (2032) aircraft will be powered by GE Aviation’s F110-GE-129E afterburning turbofan engines, while the jets produced in the Block 30 (2035) batch and beyond will gain the type’s true fifth-generation capabilities, following the integration of indigenously developed 35,000lbf-class afterburning turbofan engines that feature stealthy exhaust nozzles for low-observability.
With plans to perform its maiden flight in 2033 and to be inducted into TuAF service from 2035, the fifth-generation Block 30 model will have the capability to perform full air-to-air and air-to-ground combat missions. It will also benefit from an increased share of locally produced content thanks to its indigenously developed turbofan engines, subsystems and avionics.
In total, eight Kaan prototypes will be manufactured. According to Temel Kotil, President and CEO of TUSAŞ, the first seven MMU prototypes will be powered by GE’s F110-GE-129E turbofans, with the eighth set to be driven by the as-yet undefined domestically developed 35,000lbf-class engine. As well as the seven GE-powered prototypes, the initial series production batches of the Kaan will be powered by a pair of F110-GE-129E turbofans, which each generate 29,500lbf.
TUSAŞ first introduced the world to 'Kaan' when it publicly rolled out Turkey's initial MMU prototype (dubbed GTU/P0) during a ceremony in Ankara on May 1, 2023. Cem Dogut
TUSAŞ has previously announced that the deliveries of the first batch of 20 Kaans to the TuAF will be completed in 2034. In time, TUSAŞ will gain the ability to manufacture two Kaans per month and a total of 24 aircraft per year. TUSAŞ is carrying out the production and final assembly of its Kaan prototypes at the MMU Assembly and Test Building Block A (MMU Hangar); the construction of which was completed in March 2022.
The firm started assembling the first Kaan prototype at the MMU Hangar on April 30, 2022, and the Development Test Aircraft – abbreviated as GTU in Turkish and also called ‘Prototype 0 (P0)’ – was moved to the final assembly line on November 21, that year. TUSAŞ held a Defense Industry Press Conference at the Kahramankazan Campus in Ankara on January 11, 2023, where officials first unveiled the GTU/P0 prototype to the defense/aerospace media representatives in attendance.
The GTU/P0 prototype performed its first engine run-up test with its F110-GE-129E turbofans at the Outdoor Engine Test Field – located next to the MMU Assembly and Test Building – on February 21, 2023. With this, ground trials were launched. The MMU (or TF-X as it was also known) was formally named ‘Kaan’ during an event held on May 1, that year.
Going forward, TUSAŞ will continue to further test and mature its Kaan prototypes and the technologies possessed by the in-development fifth-generation multi-role fighter, with such activities currently being on schedule. The current development contract covers the initial four years of the MMU programme, with this expected to conclude with the completion of the type’s preliminary design phase.
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Originally published in Key Aero Freemium
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