Following the maiden flight on 21 February 2024, developments regarding TUSAŞ’s KAAN fighter have continued, including new prototypes and plans.
As can be expected from an aircraft project (Especially one to develop a fighter jet), the maiden flight is far from the end of the road in development.
KAAN’s development can be traced back to 2010 when the idea of a new generation fighter to succeed in F-16 and work alongside the strike-focused F-35 was that Turkiye was a partner at the time.
The conceptual design phase produced multiple configurations, including twin-engine clipped delta wing, single-engine delta wing+canard, and single-engine clipped delta wing configurations.
Because twin-engine fighters offer higher flight performance and survivability, it was decided that KAAN, named TF-X or MMU at the time, would be a twin-engine fighter emphasising air-to-air combat.
Various subcontractors started developing KAAN’s components, such as ASELSAN (MURAD 600-A AESA radar, KARAT-200 IRST, TOYGUN-200 EOTS, DIRCM, MWS...), TRMotor (Design and development of an Indigenous supercruise-capable turbofan engine with low-observability features), Alp Aerospace (Landing gear), and many others.
KAAN performed its first taxi run on 18 March 2023, with General Electric’s F110-GE-129 turbofan engines also powering F-16 fighters used by the Turkish Air Force.
Nearly a year late on 21 February 2024, KAAN’s first prototype P0 performed its maiden flight and flew at 8000 ft, marking a milestone for the Turkish aviation industry.
Another flight test took place on 6 May 2024, where the prototype reached a higher altitude of 10000 ft.
Shortly before the second flight, TUSAŞ announced that the second prototype P1 would make its maiden flight at the end of 2025. The new prototype incorporates design changes, including size management.
The new design is notably slightly smaller, with reduced length and wingspan. TUSAŞ has published these new specifications as 20.3 m and 13.4 m, respectively, which are smaller than the values of P0. The height has also been reduced from six meters to five meters.
New test facilities will also be built for the future tests of the prototyping phase:
1-Electromagnetic compatibility in a fully anechoic environment,
2-Large-scale structural strength and fatigue test facilities,
3-Engine/APU integration and qualification test setups,
4-Hydraulic, fuel, electrical, pneumatic, and avionics integration and qualification test setups,
5-Lightning strike safety testing,
6-Climate system design and integration laboratories,
7-Near-field radar cross-section measurement,
8-Development test centres for indigenous components (e.g., avionics computers, helmets, generators, pumps, landing gear, hooks, gearboxes, oxygen/nitrogen systems, etc.).
More prototypes will be built for said tests, with the third prototype P2 under aassembly.
Aside from the prototype phase developments, TUSAŞ is drawing potential new routes for KAAN. One of these routes came to light with the Turkish Navy Design Project Office Manager Captain Hakan Uçar’s recent interview with the Sabah newspaper regarding the MUGEM aircraft carrier.
Uçar stated that the Design Project Office and TUSAŞ are discussing a possible naval variant of KAAN for use onboard the future aircraft carrier, which is planned to use an array of unmanned and manned platforms (Bayraktar TB3, Anka-III, Hürjet LCA, Kızılelma, helicopters, etc.).
To sum everything up, the first year has been fruitful for KAAN; with the first prototype close to its third flight, the second prototype P1 being fleshed out towards the end of 2024, the third prototype entering production, and discussions for a naval version to be used onboard the MUGEM aircraft carrier taking place.
