Türkiye rapidly increasing its military deterrence capabilities, says communications director

By Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) – Türkiye is rapidly increasing its military deterrence capabilities, the Turkish communications director said on Friday after the homegrown fighter jet KAAN successfully conducted its maiden flight.

“Türkiye is rapidly increasing its military deterrence capabilities under the leadership of President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan. The latest example of this is our fifth generation fighter jet Kaan’s maiden flight,” Fahrettin Altun said on X.

Altun congratulated everyone involved with Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), which developed the fifth-generation aircraft Kaan.

“We are incredibly proud of our country’s advancements in the defense sector thanks to the ingenuity and hard work of our military planners, engineers, programmers, and other staff at Turkish companies,” he added.

Praising Erdogan’s vision of becoming more self-reliant in defense through indigenous projects, he said Türkiye will be able to “deter enemies” and "contribute even more strongly to the security of our allies and partners around the world."

“Türkiye is ever more self-confident and resolved thanks to the progress we have made under President Erdogan’s leadership. He has taught us that the impossible is just a word. I am confident that his vision will guide us to many more milestones,” he added.

Noting that Türkiye has already made a lot of progress in air, sea, and land capabilities, with many firsts in the past two decades, he said there is still a long road ahead in developing capabilities in the future.

“We will need to constantly adapt and adjust as warfare constantly evolves,” he said, adding that being prepared for any eventuality is a geopolitical necessity for a country like Türkiye.

KAAN will be capable of air-to-air combat with new-generation weapons and precision strikes from internal weapon mounts at supersonic speed, as well as increased combat power with artificial intelligence (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 from the hangar. In May 2023, the name of the aircraft was announced by President Erdogan as KAAN.