Accomplishments of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) in contribution to Türkiye’s defense sector made it a natural target for terrorists who suffered losses in counterterrorism operations. Four of five people killed by PKK terrorists on Wednesday in the capital of Ankara in an attack on TAI’s headquarters were employees of the company behind many significant projects.
Those projects include the National Combat Aircraft KAAN, which helped to position the country among the few nations that are capable of producing fifth-generation fighter jets.
TAI was established in 1973 and conducts the design, production and modernization of the aircraft needed by Türkiye, along with export activities. The air platforms produced under the company’s coordination, such as the T129 ATAK Attack and Tactical Reconnaissance Helicopter, T70 General Purpose Helicopter and ANKA and Aksungur unmanned aerial vehicles, serve security forces.
Products like the Hürkuş Basic Trainer Aircraft, HURJET Trainer and Light Attack Aircraft and Gökbey General Purpose Helicopter are eagerly awaiting to enter the inventory, while tests for the unmanned combat aircraft ANKA III are intensively ongoing.
Hürjet completed its first supersonic flight on Monday. Featuring a single-engine, tandem cockpit and modern avionics suite, the Hürjet is expected to play a critical role in the Turkish Air Forces Command’s inventory, leveraging its superior performance features. The TAI initiated the project in August 2017, with a mock-up displayed at the 2018 Farnborough International Airshow. The Hürjet project was undertaken to replace the Turkish army’s T-38 aircraft used in training and the F-5 aircraft used in aerobatic team flights and to meet the needs of potential international customers. The aircraft completed its inaugural flight in April last year. Hürjet is 13.4 meters (43 feet) long with a wingspan of 9.5 meters and a height of 5.1 meters. The advanced jet’s maximum altitude is set at 45,000 feet (13.7 kilometers), along with its 2,721-kilogram (6,000-pound) payload and a maximum speed of Mach 1.4. Recent media reports indicated Spain’s interest in Hürjet, noting advanced talks were reportedly underway for a potential aircraft swap. The aircraft was also showcased at the Egypt International Airshow last month.
One of the most important projects is KAAN, which is currently under construction and represents a significant milestone in Türkiye’s aviation history. With the KAAN project, the country is taking a major step toward becoming one of the few countries capable of designing and producing fighter jets. KAAN will place Türkiye among the few worldwide that can produce fifth-generation aircraft. The project aims to strengthen Türkiye’s independence in the defense industry and reduce dependency on foreign countries. KAAN is expected to enter the Turkish Air Force’s inventory by 2028. KAAN completed its second flight last May. The warplane made a runway debut and completed its first taxi test after starting its engines for the first time in mid-March last year. It is sought to replace the Air Forces Command’s aging F-16 fleet, which will be phased out starting in the 2030s. KAAN will initially be powered by two General Electric F-110 engines, which are also used on fourth-generation Lockheed Martin F-16 jets.
Türkiye aims to use domestically produced engines on the jet in serial production, which is expected to start in 2028. The aircraft will be capable of air-to-air combat with new-generation weapons and precision strikes from internal weapon bays at supersonic speed, and will also provide increased combat power with artificial intelligence and neural network support.
Aksungur, a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), is another highlight of TAI’s accomplishments. Having started its first mission in the second quarter of 2021, the Aksungur became a part of the Turkish Naval Forces Command in October of that year. While the number of Aksungur model UCAVs in the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) has increased, its exports are also rising. It has been shipped to three countries, and intensive negotiations are ongoing with several others. The Aksungur reached its ultimate form with the integration of the TEI-PD170 Turbodiesel Aviation Engine developed by the Turkish joint venture TAI Engine Industry (TEI). During the performance test, the UCAV reached 41 hours with the indigenous engine inside, setting a flight record.
TAI has also achieved notable successes worldwide. Most recently, it modernized the Su-25 aircraft in Azerbaijan’s inventory and delivered them to that country. The company was founded by the government at a time of heavy dependence on imports for defense needs by the Ministry of Industry and Technology. It underwent a corporate change in 1984 after Türkiye decided to prioritize F-16 fighter jets for its Air Forces. TAI became a joint investment company of the U.S. and Türkiye that year for the production of jets, though the condition was that the U.S. partnership would be limited to 25 years. In 2005, before that period ended, Turkish stakeholders purchased all foreign stocks in the company and TAI and TUSAŞ (as the company is known in Turkish), two separate entities, became one corporate entity: TUSAŞ. In the following decade, it became a tech hub for developing aviation systems, their modernization, production and integration. TAI is divided into six groups for production and other services, including the Aviation Structurals Group, Aircraft Group, Helicopter Group, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Systems Group, Space Systems Group, National Combat Aircraft (NCA) Group and Engineering Group.
The company released a statement on Thursday on its website, highlighting their “resolve” despite the attack. “We are members of a nation overcoming any challenge. We will overcome this attack and continue our work for the future of our country without interruption,” the statement said. “This attack targeted not just our company but also our defense industry and nation. We send condolences to the families of our co-workers and a citizen who died in the attack. We will continue contributing to the national defense industry by keeping their memories alive,” the company said.
