Turkey's fifth-generation ** fighter TF-X Kaan, which was developed by Turkey, made its first flight yesterday under the escort of F16, and according to reports from Turkey, this fighter has been successfully completed.
Regarding this "feat", the Turkish people said: "This is the world's most cutting-edge fifth-generation ** fighter, and only China and the United States can have such a cutting-edge **, and Turkey is proud of it." ”
However, military observers and military enthusiasts expressed great disdain and even sneered at the development process of the "Khan" fighter.
Turkey did not have much involvement in the development of this fifth-generation aircraft, their main R&D team is the British BAE (formed by the British Space Corporation and Marconi Corporation, which is currently ranked in the top five in the world), and Turkey's technical talents are secondary, why would the British "show mercy" and develop fifth-generation fighters for Turkey? The British also want to develop the "sixth-generation aircraft" themselves, but the technological gap of the "fifth-generation" is too large, and the development cost of the fifth-generation aircraft is too high, and the British simply do not have enough money to "help" Turkey, so they are willing to help.
The air forces of many countries will be terrified when they see that the "Khan" is equipped with American-made F110-GE-129 engines! The T-129 fighter's engine was "stuck" and almost cost Pakistan a lot (if it was paid in advance, it would be over), which is still fresh in their memory. Your "Khan" is armed with an American-made engine, and no one will buy yours.
In addition to the engine, other equipment that Turkey cannot manufacture, such as radars (and T R parts), ETOS integrated optical sighting devices, etc., are sold in the West, in other words, the "Khan" is a patchwork, and Turkey's own ** equipment is nothing compared to this fighter.
If Turkey itself, or its potential customers, comes into conflict with any of the countries that provide the system, it will affect the parts of the aircraft **, as if Argentina bought an FA-50 fighter from South Korea, but the chair in the cockpit is the British "Baker" brand, and Britain bans imports, so the plans of Argentina and South Korea have failed, and with such an example, no one wants to buy it in the future.
It is precisely because the United States did not bid for the **CTS800-4A turbo engine of Pakistan that the T129 will bid with Pakistan's armed *** and was finally abandoned by Pakistan.
The overall design led by the United Kingdom, the Buya Wind Tunnel in Aiolos in Canada, and the Wind Tunnel in the United States, which have nothing to do with Turkey, are exported to other countries under the banner of independent research and development, which is in itself a deception.
Moreover, there are too many subsystems in Europe and the United States, and the ** of the "Khan" will also rise, for example, the ** of the ** LCA "Brilliant" in India will exceed 80 million US dollars ......Others aren't stupid either.
Frankly speaking, the first flight of the "Khan" represents that Turkey's space technology is 90% ahead of the countries and regions, but the problem is that the only ones with complete space technology are China, the United States, and Russia, and we are slightly inferior.
Turkey's currency has depreciated by more than half, so far, the problem of "Khan" has not been solved, first of all, the problem of funding, the cost of research and development of the fifth-generation aircraft is as high as 40 billion US dollars (F35 is the 400 type, but because of the relatively late development, coupled with the price ** and other reasons, the cost of a fifth-generation aircraft is about 60 billion US dollars to 80 billion US dollars), Turkey's currency has depreciated by more than half, so far there is no alleviation of the problem of high inflation, there is no extra money to create a perfect "Khan".
Second, even if the foreign Air Force is interested, they will not invest, because there are too many suppliers of spare parts, and it will be difficult to deal with it if something goes wrong, besides, the Turkish Air Force does not even have its own **, how can anyone afford it? Without money, what will happen next?