UPDATE - Türkiye reveals name of national combat aircraft as KAAN

UPDATES WITH MORE COMMENTS FROM TURKISH PRESIDENT, ADDS DETAILS

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) – The name of Türkiye's national combat aircraft, known as TF-X, is KAAN, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Monday.

Türkiye is now in every field – on land, in sea and submarine, in air and space, Erdogan said during an event – "Century of the Future" – organized by the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) in the capital Ankara to introduce its aircraft together, including KAAN.

The aircraft's name was given by Devlet Bahceli, the leader of Türkiye's Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the president said.

Kaan is a historic title used by the rulers of Turkic and Mongolian states.

The recent defense and technology products in Türkiye, such as the satellite IMECE, warship TCG Anadolu, main battle tank Altay, and multirole helicopter Gokbey, were equipped with a new engine, Erdogan stressed, adding that there are better projects in the future.

"If we are talking about the Century of Türkiye today, the success we have achieved in the defense industry, which is both the insurance of our security and the locomotive of technological progress, has a great share in this," he said.

KAAN will complete the test process within a couple of years and will enter the inventory of the Turkish army, the Turkish leader said.

The fifth-generation aircraft, KAAN, was developed by TAI with an aim to replace the Turkish army's aging F-16 fleet.

With this aircraft, Türkiye will become one of the five countries having this kind of technologies, Erdogan said.

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

The 21-meter aircraft is able to reach a maximum speed of 1.8 mach thanks to its twin engines, which can produce 29,000 pounds (13,000 kilograms) thrust each.

KAAN have several features such as high situational awareness, optimized pilot workload, combat damage detection, new generation mission systems, low observability, precision strike, and internal weapon bay.