Turkish Aerospace Industries plans to boost annual aircraft production capacity by 24 units

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) designed a new production plant to boost its manufacturing output with an additional 24 aircraft per year capacity, the firm's deputy general manager said.

Uğur Zengin delivered a keynote on the TAI Kaan project at Kocaeli University's two-day scientific research congress KOUBAK'26 on Thursday.

Zengin stated that TAI achieved low-volume mass production, but the current assembly line on its complex spanning 5-6 million square meters (1.9-2.3 square miles), which boasts the capacity to produce six to nine of the twin-engine single-seat jet TAI Kaan per year, is not enough for their growing operations.

He noted that the firm started expanding gradually into several cities in Türkiye, while collaborating with local universities since the Kaan fighter jet project kicked off in 2010.

Meanwhile, the development and testing phases for the Kaan are rapidly advancing following its first flight in early 2024.

Zengin said that two additional aircraft are currently on the assembly line and a second prototype will take off within a few months, while a fourth craft is expected to be manufactured by the end of the year.

TAI signed a new military contract with Türkiye's Defense Industries Secretariat (SSB) to design an infrastructure expansion to scale up its output.

"To have a domestic fighter jet, one needs very robust infrastructure, as one must protect the technology," Zengin said.

TAI had established world-class testing infrastructure to keep the aircraft entirely within Turkish borders, including Europe's second-largest subsonic wind tunnel for aerodynamic testing and a full-scale anechoic test facility to analyze electromagnetic interference across sensor and radar systems onboard the aircraft.

Zengin noted that their lightning testing facility, of which there are only five worldwide, sends 3.5 million volts of electricity through the aircraft to simulate extreme weather strikes and the jet's structural and electronic resilience.