Golden age for Turkish aviation: 9 homegrown aircraft soared skies in decade

Türkiye has launched nine homegrown aircraft in a decade, as the efforts for the developments in the defense and aviation industries continue. Türkiye's golden age of aviation started with manned and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) from the training aircraft Hürkuş to the fifth generation fighter jet KAAN. 'Take one more look at the sky,' said Haluk Görgün, president of the Defense Industry Agency, on the X social media platform, attaching a video of domestic aircraft that have recently made their first flights. The video starts with showcasing Hürkuş, which was developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI). Then, the Baykar TB2, created by the Turkish drone-maker Baykar, is shown to have flown for the first time on April 29, 2014, played a significant role in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the Russo-Ukrainian War. The Aksungur followed, which is a UAV developed by TAI based on its Anka platform, and flown for the first time on March 20, 2019, boasting a capacity to perform uninterrupted multi-role intelligence, surveillance, recon, and attack missions, as well as its capacity to equip high payloads. RECORD-BREAKING AKINCI Baykar's other UCAV was also showcased, named as the Bayraktar Kızılelma, a homegrown unmanned jet which has made its first flight on Dec. 14, 2022, as the drone-maker continues to develop it with newer iterations, planning to start mass production in 2024. Having flown for the first time on April 25, 2023, the Hürjet, by TAI, is exhibited next on the video, boasting an upper altitude limit of 45,000 ft, at a 1.4 mach speed. The last aircraft made by Baykar to have flown to the sky is the Bayraktar TB3, which launched for the first time on Oct. 27, 2023. The ANKA III, the first vertical tailless UAV with a turbofan-engine developed by TAI, took to the skies for the first time on Dec. 28, 2023. Dubbed as Türkiye's most important technology project, the fifth generation fighter jet named KAAN also developed by TAI, made its first flight on Wednesday.