According to the news released by the Turkish defense industry on the 21st, the fifth-generation fighter jet independently developed and produced by it made its first flight and landed successfully.
Since then, Turkey has become the fifth country after China, the United States, Russia and South Korea to successfully test fly or equip a fifth-generation fighter jet.
You must know that Britain and France, which are traditional powerhouses in the production and manufacture of fighter jets, and Japan, which has a developed manufacturing industry, have been full of difficulties in the development of fifth-generation fighters.
Turkey, which is not considered to have a developed aviation industry, was able to independently complete the design of the fifth-generation concept aircraft and the successful test flight of the first aircraft.
Regardless of how much the performance of this fighter will meet the standards of a fifth-generation fighter, it will be a great success and breakthrough for the Turkish aviation industry.
Why is Turkey developing a fifth-generation aircraft?
** Always for potential adversaries on the battlefield, and Turkey's potential adversaries will be armed with fifth-generation aircraft.
Turkey's first potential adversary is Greece.
Turkey and Greece can be described as feuds.
Turkey and Greece have not only land borders, but also disputed maritime borders in the Aegean Sea, and there are several serious differences between the two countries, ranging from the status of the Aegean islands to the Cyprus dispute.
If you open the map, you will find that of the more than 2,500 islands located in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey, Greece occupies more than 2,400 and Turkey occupies only more than 60. Greece almost "locked" Turkey in the Aegean Sea.
Many of the issues between the two countries are rooted in historical context – from the Byzantine era, all the way to World War I and the Turkish War of Independence. Historically, Athens has repeatedly tried to acquire Turkish territory from Ankara, and some Greek ultranationalists still adhere to this point of view.
As recently as 2020, Turkey and Greece came close to fighting over a territorial dispute.
Turkey and Greece joined NATO in the same year in 1952, but despite being NATO countries, Turkey and Greece have completely different levels of trust in NATO.
Greece, as the birthplace of Western culture, has a special place in the West, and in all Greek-Turkish disputes, Greece has been treated favoritly by other NATO countries almost every time;
The reason why Turkey was invited by the US-led NATO is mainly due to its special geographical location. Turkey's territory straddles the Eurasian continent and holds the Turkish Straits, the "throat of the world". It has always been a battleground for soldiers, and its strategic position is very important.
NATO needs Turkey to use its special geographical location to block the expansion of the former Soviet Union and now Russia.
However, Turkey, as a Muslim-dominated country, is too different from the cultural core of other NATO countries with ** religion as the main body, and other countries have never been able to fully trust whether this predominantly Muslim country can really integrate into the West.
This is why Turkey has been trying to join the EU but has not been successful.
In the territorial dispute between Turkey and Greece, the United States, as the big brother behind Greece, has been pulling the strings and balancing the military strength between Greece and Turkey in various ways, after all, Turkey's population and territorial area are far larger than Greece's.
For example, on January 23 this year, after a lengthy Turkish bargain that threatened not to approve Sweden's accession to NATO, the United States finally approved a plan to continue advancing with Turkey's F-16 fighter jets.
However, the United States also announced its arms sales plan to Greece, announcing that it would approve the supply of 40 F-35A fighters and related equipment to Greece.
Turkey knows its place within NATO, and it is clear that in the short term, Turkey will not get the American fifth-generation fighter F35 and will have to develop it on its own.
Turkey's second potential adversary is Russia.
If Turkey and Greece are feuds, then Turkey and Russia are even more feuds, from the late 16th century to the first world war in the 20th century for more than 300 years, Turkey and ** intermittently fought more than a dozen wars, each war has profoundly affected the national destiny and international status of the two countries.
The hatred between the two countries has long been recorded in history books, literature, and even blood, and it is difficult to forget.
Although Turkey seems to have maintained neutrality in the recent Russia-Ukraine conflict, deep down in Turkey's heart, it is hoping that the Russians will shed more blood and lose more vitality in the war.
Behind Turkey's apparent neutrality is nothing more than a search for more practical interests.
Russia made its first flight of its own fifth-generation fighter Su-57 in 2010, although it is unsatisfactory in terms of stealth performance and avionics level, but Russia dares to make it public, indicating that the level of this fighter is still greatly improved compared with its most advanced fourth-generation aircraft Su-35.
Turkey, as an aspiring country to become a prominent power in the world, was certainly not willing to be left behind, so in 2010 it immediately decided to develop and manufacture a new fighter.
So what is the performance of this fighter that took more than ten years to develop?
The Turkish military only announced a few parameters of this fighter, and combined with the online ** we can roughly speculate on the performance of this fighter.
According to the data currently given by Turkey, the aircraft has a total length of 21 meters, a wingspan of 14 meters, and a height of 6 meters. is a larger aircraft than the J-20 (J-20 is 212 meters, wingspan 1301 m, height 469 m).
And the Kaan, unlike the KF-21, comes with a full set of two columnar main bomb bays and two combat bomb bays - this means that its maximum take-off weight should have exceeded at least 35 tons.
However, the weight data circulating on the Internet has not been updated, and it is still on the order of magnitude of about 28 tons with a maximum take-off weight.
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This figure is reasonable for a double-thrust heavy fourth-generation aircraft, but too light for a fifth-generation aircraft of this physique. Unless this is only the maximum take-off weight of the prototype, then it makes some sense.
In 2021, Turkey issued a presentation of requirements for the TF-X project: it can be seen that the Kaan is expected to be able to carry a 1,000-pound payload in the main bomb bay, with super-cruising capabilities and a large combat radius.
It will also be equipped with AESA radar and IRST and EOTS systems, etc., and the stealth performance requirements are 001-0.About 1 square meter. The speed requirements are relatively low.
A typical fifth-generation aircraft must meet the 4S standard: ultra-stealth capability, supersonic cruise capability, super-maneuverability and super-battlefield situational awareness.
This was put forward by the United States in the 80s of the 20th century after studying the relevant air battles in the Vietnam War, the Yom Kippur War and the Fifth Middle East War, in view of the problems exposed by the American fighter planes at that time and the response to the Soviet Union's powerful ground air defense capabilities.
At present, the design indicators of this fifth-generation aircraft in Turkey are decent.
In various indicators, there is no blind pursuit of catching up with the first-class.
They did not blindly demand that the level of their fifth-generation aircraft catch up with the level of fifth-generation aircraft of China and the United States, but combined with their actual needs, took advantage of their own advantages in the NATO system, maximized the use of parts and components produced by the NATO system, and quickly developed an aircraft that can be used in the sky for testing.
As for the performance of this fighter in the future, it remains to be seen when it will be tested later and how long it will be officially put into the army.