TR Air-Force TF-X KAAN Fighter Jet

[Huelague]

Looks matured.

Radom

 

[Pilatino]

We Should Stop Calling KAAN a “5th Generation” Fighter

We really need to drop the “5th generation” label when talking about KAAN, because it actually undersells the entire system. The term locks KAAN into an F-22/F-35 comparison cycle that doesn’t reflect what Türkiye is building today.

KAAN is not a standalone fighter — it’s the core of a next-generation air dominance ecosystem that includes Kızılelma, Anka-3, Super Şimşek, advanced EW suites, national AESA radar, AI-enabled mission systems, and Loyal Wingman operations that most “6th gen” programs have not even demonstrated yet.

By calling it “5th gen,” we unintentionally play into the PR narrative of FCAS/GCAP, letting them brand their PowerPoint concepts as “6th gen” while our actual flying platforms are framed as “one step behind.”

KAAN is much closer to what the next generation of air combat looks like — networked, AI-native, unmanned–manned synergistic, and designed for systems warfare, not just kinematic superiority.

This is why we should simply call it what it is:

KAAN — Türkiye’s Next-Generation Air Dominance System.

Not 5th gen.
Not 4.75 gen.
Just next generation, because that’s exactly what it is.

 

[Merzifonlu]

By calling it “5th gen,” we unintentionally play into the PR narrative of FCAS/GCAP, letting them brand their PowerPoint concepts as “6th gen” while our actual flying platforms are framed as “one step behind.”

Let everyone think Kaan is "one step behind". It's actually much better for us.

 

[Yasar_TR]

We Should Stop Calling KAAN a “5th Generation” Fighter

We should first come down to Earth and not allow what we are building to go to our heads. Proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Let us first get this bird to fly with all possible bells and whistles we can furnish it with.
We don’t even have a final prototype that can fly. All we are talking about is what it is going to be. Let us realise it first and let the final product speak for it self.
Great achievement that Kaan flew twice, for a country that did not have the technology to build a jet fighter a couple of decades ago. But let us first, realise everything we are planning to do. Then start discussing what generation plane we are building. Every technical innovation you are mentioning here can be retrofitted to any 5th generation plane. That doesn’t make that plane a generation above the rest. It is a generation ahead if what it has can not be retrofitted to the previous version.