Not long ago, Turkey successfully conducted a test flight of its own fifth-generation aircraft "Kaan", which lasted more than 10 minutes, and according to Turkey, it basically met the design requirements.
The entire test flight of "Khan" was carried out at the Muerte airfield in Turkey. During the test flight, a two-seater F-16D fighter was accompanied to ensure the safety of the test flight. The test flight took a total of 13 minutes and the maximum flight altitude was 2,400 meters.
"Khan" is a stealth fighter with a conventional aerodynamic design, with a length of about 21 meters, a wingspan of about 14 meters, a height of 6 meters, and the air intakes are distributed on both sides of the fuselage, square, and the power system is two F110-129 turbofan engines of General Electric of the United States, with a built-in magazine design, which is more advanced than the semi-buried type of the South Korean KF-21.
The whole design of "Khan" felt like a serious plagiarism of the American F-22. In addition, judging from the currently known data, the "Khan" should be the world's largest fifth-generation stealth fighter, much larger than the American F-22, and the frontal projection has become the highest among all fifth-generation aircraft, resulting in the largest cross-sectional area, and the flight resistance of the nose is also the largest among the fifth-generation aircraft. The oversized fuselage can inevitably be loaded with more fuel, equipment and various sensors, but the disadvantage is that the flight resistance is large and the weight is heavy, and whether supersonic cruise can be carried out is a big problem.
Turkey's fifth-generation aircraft research program began in 2010 with the initial aircraft codenamed TF-X. In 2023, after 13 years of hibernation, the first prototype was finally built, and at the same time, Turkey's ** Erdogan named it "Khan".
Turkey has not built a fighter before, and the appearance of the "Khan" stealth fighter can be said to be Turkey's first seat, and it is quite good to be able to cause this. For this successful test flight, the evaluation of foreign ** reports is not low, and it is believed that there is a potential export capacity. What's more, it is said that it will compete with China's FC-31 (the export version of the J-31) and South Korea's KF-21 for the international market of fifth-generation aircraft. That's too much appetite! It's really a lack of people's hearts and swallowing elephants! As for the fact that the American F-35 is also exported, let's talk about it separately.
The conditions for a country to buy the American F-35 are very harsh, why do you say that? First, if you want to buy an American F-35, you must have good international relations with the United States, and you can't go against the United States. In international geopolitical relations, it is necessary to flatter the choices made by the United States. Second, the single aircraft of the F-35 of the United States can be bought for about 80 million US dollars, and the country does not have enough financial resources to afford it in the later maintenance costs.
Let's move on to "Khan". Now Turkey has come up with the "Khan" stealth fighter, which can indeed be said to have stirred up the market for the next five generations of stealth fighters, after all, it is not as expensive as the F-35, and it can be fought with China's FC-31, after all, Turkey has also attracted Pakistan to participate in the "Khan", and it is said that in the future, Pakistan may also provide some parts for the "Khan", and at the same time give up the purchase of China's FC-31. As for the South Korean KF-21, the author will look at it and forget it, no one will think about the layout of the half-buried mounted missile.
To sum up, the Turkish "Khan" still has a long way to go if it wants to stir up the international market for fifth-generation aircraft, and the author still hopes that the Chinese FC-31 will get orders as soon as possible!
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