ISTANBUL

Türkiye's fighter jet project, known as KAAN, has three prototypes; one will be used for land tests, and the other two will fly as of April 2026, the head of Turkish Aerospace Inc. (TAI) said on Friday.

Speaking at Anadolu's Technology Desk as part of the International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF) 2025, Mehmet Demiroglu said KAAN, which rolled out in 2023 and made its maiden flight in 2024, moved to an upper league.

The 17th edition of the six-day defense fair IDEF, starting on Tuesday, is being held simultaneously at the Istanbul Fair Center, Atatürk Airport, Wow Hotel, and Atakoy Marina.

The event, organized by KFA Fairs with support from Türkiye’s Defense Industries Secretariat (SSB) and the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation, has Anadolu as its global communication partner.

He said phase 1 for the production of KAAN is about to begin, adding: "We have completed all our work to launch phase 1.

"I don't want to say anything yet, but I can say that you can expect some surprises. All of this shows how far Türkiye has come and how important the KAAN platform is."

Four countries have built it, and there are consortia that are trying to build it; now, a consortium that began with Türkiye and was announced at the Paris Airshow in 2018 is said to be planning its first flight around 2035-2040, he noted.

He said this demonstrates Türkiye's speed, belief, and capabilities. "We do not view KAAN as merely an aircraft project. KAAN is a journey toward reaching the pinnacle of a nation's defense industry, not just as TAI alone, but as a collective effort."

The aircraft, for which the project began in 2016, was rolled out in March 2023 and made its maiden flight in February 2024.

In May 2023, the name of the aircraft was announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as KAAN.

- Hurjet exports

Touching on the jet trainer Hurjet's export deal to Spain, he said there will be a supply agreement in September or October this year with Spain.

In May, Spain signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Türkiye to import Hurjet.

Underlining that Hürjet is the best in its class, he said Türkiye is in talks with countries that want to replace their training aircraft fleets in the 2030s.

He said: "There are countries among them that we would never have expected.

"In fact, I can say that we missed out on the first phase in Malaysia, but we will focus on the second phase. We know it will be difficult, but we will work to secure the second phase. Indonesia has serious potential. We believe there is serious potential in the Gulf countries."

Hurjet is a platform that is a candidate for training aircraft not only for Spain and Türkiye but also for other NATO countries, he said, adding: "This is also a platform that is a candidate for both training and attack aircraft in relatively smaller air forces."

"It has a munitions capacity of approximately three tons. Considering that F-16s have a payload capacity of around six tons, when we look at cost-effectiveness and operational costs, the Hurjet will be cheaper than the F-16.

"Therefore, we believe the Hurjet has a bright future," he added.