Kaan In The World Press: A Turning Point
The first flight of KAAN, Turkey's indigenous fighter jet, was also on the agenda of the world press. "The flight marked a turning point in Turkey's indigenous fighter jet project," US-based Bloomberg wrote.
KAAN, Turkey’s national fighter jet, successfully made its first flight today. It was announced that KAAN stayed in the air for 13 minutes in its first flight and reached a speed of 230 knots at an altitude of 8000 feet.
While the aircraft, whose tests will continue, is targeted to enter the inventory in 2028, the world press also carried the first flight of KAAN to its agenda.
“One Of The Biggest Projects Of The Turkish Defense Industry”
The Greek weekly newspaper Ethnos published the following news on its website: “The KAAN fighter jet, one of the biggest projects of the Turkish defense industry and developed as part of the “National Combat Aircraft” project, took off from the Mürted Airport near Ankara, accompanied by an F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet.
Another Greek newspaper, Naftemporiki, reported that KAAN is planned to join the Turkish Air Force in 2028.
“THE PROJECT STARTED IN 2016”
US-based Bloomberg reported, “Turkey’s fifth-generation fighter jet KAAN made its first flight. The flight marked a milestone in Turkey’s indigenous fighter jet project.”
“The first flight of Turkey’s first indigenously developed fighter jet took place today,” UK-based news agency Reuters reported, adding, “NATO member Turkey launched the TF-X project in 2016 to produce a national fighter jet with maximum domestic capability.”
“THIS IS A TURNING POINT”
“This milestone marks Turkey’s rise as a fighter jet nation,” the German daily Welt reported in an article titled “KAAN successfully completes its first flight, a victory for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over the United States.
Turkey is increasingly striving for self-sufficiency in the production of modern fighter jets, the article said, noting that this is a historic milestone for its rapidly growing defense industry.
The twin-engine fighter jet is a so-called 5th generation model with stealth features, making it difficult to be detected by radar.
It was pointed out that Turkey aims to become one of the few countries in the world that has the entire value chain for the production of modern fighter jets, from technology to infrastructure, know-how and employees with production capability, and for this purpose, modern sensors, radars and other weapon technologies are being developed in various Turkish companies.
“HAS HIDDEN PROPERTIES”
The news on the aviation website Flugrevue also stated that KAAN is Turkey’s ray of hope and the new fighter jet in the sky.
It was stated that the Turkish national fighter jet with stealth features made its first successful flight.
“UKRAINE IS ALREADY INTERESTED IN KAAN”
Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, in its article titled “Turkey presented KAAN”, stated that the first Turkish-made fighter jet successfully completed its first flight.
Following the completion of the flight, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Ankara Vasyl Bodnar wrote on the X social media platform that he was “pleased that Ukrainian companies are participating in this very important project for Turkey”.
The newspaper has already reported that Ukraine is interested in Turkey’s 5th generation fighter jet KAAN.