Turkey's fifth-generation KAAN fighter jet made its maiden flight and was accompanied in the sky by an F-16 Fighting Falcon

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has conducted the first flight tests of the fifth-generation KAAN fighter.

Here's What We Know

The information was shared by the Turkish publication SavunmaSanayiST. The aircraft successfully took to the sky, flew the planned distance and landed.

By the way, the KAAN was escorted in the air by an F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter of the Turkish Air Force.

Flashback

The KAAN (TF-X) is Turkey's fifth-generation fighter jet project, which has been under development by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) since 2017. The first versions of the aircraft design were shown in 2013 at the International Exhibition in Istanbul. The first KAAN prototype was unveiled in late autumn 2022. A month later, TAI announced plans to produce two aircraft each month from 2029. The fighter will be able to take to the air for the first time in autumn 2024, with adoption scheduled for 2028. The KAAN will have a maximum speed of Mach 1.8 (2222 km/h).

By the way, it was recently reported that Ukraine plans to buy KAAN from Turkey in the future. The aircraft can compete with the American fighters F-35 Lightning II and F-22 Raptor.

Source: SavunmaSanayiST