Türkiye fighter jet KAAN, all you need to know about the 5th-generation capable fighter aircraft, a made in Turkey.

KAAN is a made in Türkiye fighter jet which is called to be a 5th-generation fighter aircraft.

KAAN is developed to modernize the Air Force, and will replace the ageing F-16 Fighting Falcon (manufactured by US) aircraft and potentially be exported to other countries.

KAAN, comes from a Turkish and a Persian-Arabic origin name, which simply means the leader, or the king.

Türkiye became one of the only five countries to produce home made figther jet:

The fighter jet will make Türkiye one of the only five countries producing this type of fifth generation fighter jets in the world.

KAAN, is developed by the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), with an aim to replace the Turkish army's ageing F-16 fleet, and the replacement of the F-16 fleet is planned to start in the 2030s. The project for the aircraft began in 2016, and the first test flight was conducted out in March.

The 21-meter aircraft is able to reach a maximum speed of 1.8 Mach thanks to its twin engines, which can produce 29,000 pounds (ca. 13 ton) thrust each.

Features:

• KAAN's top characteristics of being a 5th generation fighter jet include but not limited to the following:

• KAAN has all technologies and features found in fifth-generation fighter jet, such as high situational awareness, optimized pilot workload, combat damage detection, new generation mission systems, low observability, precision strike, and internal weapon bay.

• Other features include, strategically attack air-to-air and air-to-ground targets, one major advantage KAAN possess is being a completely domestic project, meaning a secure data sharing capacity without a third country system on board, fluency in managing, maintaining, operating the fighter jet, use of smart munitions.

• The fighter jet has an increased combat power with precision and accurate firing from internal weapon slots at high/supersonic speed, due to its high-performance radar, electronic warfare, electro-optics, communication, navigation, and identification capability.

• It also has automatic target recognition and detection, multiple data fusion and artificial intelligence capabilities.

Historical importance of KAAN:

KAAN alongside with Hürjet (Türkiye’s first nationally built jet-powered trainer and light attack aircraft) rolled on the runway of the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) headquarters on Monday, marking the historical leap Türkiye as a self dependent, and capable country took, after the fall of dominant Ottoman empire, after the world war II.

• KAAN was initally called TF-X fighter jet.

Türkiye's defence industry has come a long way, from a country which was denied weapons and related technology by many western countries, to one of the leading defence sector country.

From a country that was dropped from the f-35 development programme to a country that has become a key player in the defence industry with the development of various war machines. Some key developed aviation machines include, bayrakhtar-2, bayrakhtar-3 UAVs, KAAN, HURJET and other fighter jets.

• Once heavily reliant on foreign imports for military equipment, the country has invested significantly in domestic defense production capabilities.

Turkey's defense sector boasts impressive recent achievements, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) like the ANKA-3, ANKA-A, TB2, TB3, and KIZILELMA. Additionally, combat aircraft like the HURJET, HURKUS, and AKSUNGUR, along with the next-generation fighter jet KAAN, showcase advancements across various platforms.