Turkish fighter jet KAAN successfully conducts 2nd test flight

By Gozde Bayar

Turkish homegrown fighter jet KAAN on Monday successfully conducted its second successful test flight, said the head of the nation’s Defense Industry Agency.

“Our national combat aircraft, which successfully made its first flight on Feb. 21, took off from the runway at 08.46 this morning, remained in the air for 14 minutes, and reached an altitude of 10,000 feet,” Haluk Gorgun, the agency head, said on X.

Gorgun expressed his gratitude for witnessing this “historic moment.”

“I wholeheartedly congratulate all our companies, employees, and institutional personnel who contributed to the project, especially our Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) engineers, pilots and technical team,” he said, adding that they are taking firm steps towards mass production.

Praising the efforts of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for achieving such a success together with the country, he said Turkish skies are in “safe hands” with local and national technologies.

KAAN, the first fifth-generation fighter jet manufactured domestically, aims to replace the Turkish army's aging fleet.

Before its maiden flight, tests were carried out on KAAN's launch seat tests, control surfaces, landing gear, avionic systems, fuel, engine start-up, and taxiing.

KAAN will be capable of air-to-air combat with next-generation weapons and precision strikes from internal weapon mounts at supersonic speed, and will provide increased combat power with AI and neural network support.

The latest development makes Türkiye one of the few countries to own this technology.

The aircraft, for which the project began in 2016, was rolled out in March 2023.

Last year, it left the hangar for the first time, and last May, the name of the aircraft was announced by Erdogan.

It is part of Türkiye’s continuing efforts to shift most of its defense vehicles, weapons, and supplies from foreign sources to domestic ones.