TAI TF Kaan: Turkey's Homegrown Stealth Fighter That's Shaking Up the Global Arms Market

Turkey got booted from the U.S. F-35 program in 2019, and instead of lobbying quietly to get back in, Ankara built its own stealth fighter. The TAI TF Kaan, a twin-engine fifth-generation jet developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries, completed its maiden flight in February 2024 and has since landed a $10 billion export deal with Indonesia, with Saudi Arabia not far behind. If you want to understand what the Kaan actually is, what it can do, and where the program really stands in 2026, this guide covers all of it.

How the Program Started

The origins of the TAI TF Kaan go back to December 2010, when Turkey's Defence Industry Executive Committee formally approved the development of a next-generation indigenous fighter. At the time, Turkey was still a partner in the F-35 program and was contributing to its production. The TF-X (as it was then known) was conceived not as a replacement for the F-35, but as a complement to it, a high-end domestic platform that would give Turkey strategic depth.

Early conceptual work included a collaboration with Sweden's Saab to explore airframe configurations. Three designs were considered: a twin-engine layout inspired by the F-22, a single-engine design resembling the F-16, and a high-agility single-engine canard-delta similar to the Saab Gripen. Turkey ultimately went with the twin-engine configuration for its performance, payload capacity, and survivability advantages.

Then things changed. In 2019, Turkey was removed from the F-35 program over the S-400 purchase. Suddenly the TF-X wasn't a complement to anything. It became the plan. Development accelerated, and in 2016 TAI had signed a $125 million design support agreement with the UK's BAE Systems, who contributed to the airframe design. The aircraft was officially named "Kaan" in May 2023, and its first prototype rolled out publicly that March, followed by its maiden flight on February 21, 2024.

Design and Capabilities

The Kaan is designed around the core attributes of a fifth-generation fighter: low observability (stealth), advanced sensor fusion, internal weapons bays, supercruise capability, and sophisticated electronic warfare systems. At 20.3 meters long with a 13.4-meter wingspan, it's physically close in size to the F-22 Raptor, and the visual similarities are hard to miss.

At the heart of its sensor suite is the MURAD AESA radar, developed by ASELSAN, Turkey's state defense electronics company. The cockpit features a wide-angle glass display and the TULGAR helmet-mounted display, which allows pilots to cue weapons simply by looking at a target. That puts it firmly in the same category as the F-22 and F-35 for cockpit technology. The jet also carries an infrared search-and-track system, electro-optical targeting, and an integrated electronic countermeasures suite.

What makes the Kaan unusual compared to pure air-superiority jets like the F-22 is its weapon loadout. It's designed to carry both air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions, including Turkish-developed equivalents of the AIM-9 Sidewinder, AIM-120 AMRAAM, and various precision strike weapons, all carried internally in the stealth configuration. That puts its mission profile much closer to the F-35 than the F-22, despite the visual resemblance to the latter. In terms of top speed, current estimates put it at Mach 1.8 with a service ceiling of around 55,000 feet.

Where the Program Stands in 2026

As of early 2026, the Kaan program has moved well beyond the symbolic first-flight stage. TAI announced in February 2026 that three prototypes were under construction simultaneously, and unveiled them publicly. The first prototype (P0) completed two test flights in 2024, a 13-minute maiden flight in February followed by a 14-minute second flight in May, reaching 10,000 feet at 230 knots. That aircraft now functions exclusively as a ground test platform, freeing the newer prototypes to carry the flight test campaign.

The second prototype, P1, and third prototype, P2, represent significant upgrades over P0. Both incorporate wider nose sections, redesigned air intakes positioned closer to the cockpit, rebalanced structural load distribution, and more complete avionics packages. TAI's CEO confirmed in January 2026 that P1 is expected to fly by May or June 2026 at the latest, with P2 following by the end of the year. In total, six prototypes are planned to support the test campaign.

Turkey went from being cut out of the F-35 program to landing a $10 billion export deal for its own stealth jet in under six years. Whatever else you think about the Kaan, that's a remarkable turnaround.

Serial production deliveries to the Turkish Air Force have been adjusted to 2029, pushed back slightly from the earlier 2028 target to account for the expanded testing schedule and systems integration work. The first production batch, called Block 10, is expected to cover 20 aircraft. The Turkish Air Force has indicated a total requirement of over 250 Kaans to replace its F-16 fleet across the 2030s.

If you want to follow the testing campaign closely as it develops this year, defense outlets like The Aviationist, Breaking Defense, and Army Recognition are publishing regular updates. Signing up for their newsletters will save you a lot of tab switching.

The Engine Problem

This is the part of the Kaan story that doesn't get enough attention. The current prototypes, and the initial production aircraft, run on General Electric F110-GE-129 engines, the same powerplants used in late-model F-15s and F-16s. They're proven, reliable, and produce 131 kN of thrust with afterburner. The issue is that the F110 was never designed for a stealth platform. It lacks the specially shaped exhaust nozzles and thermal shielding that reduce both infrared and radar signatures from the rear of the aircraft. That's a real gap for a jet claiming fifth-generation low-observability credentials.

Turkey is well aware of this. The domestic replacement, the TEI-TF35000, is under joint development by Tusas Engine Industries and TRMotor, with a target thrust of around 35,000 pounds. Early testing is scheduled to begin in 2026, but full integration onto Kaan isn't expected until 2032. Until then, every Kaan delivered will fly on American-made engines that still require U.S. export licenses, and that creates a political vulnerability Ankara is clearly uncomfortable with.

The engine situation also complicates export deals. Indonesia, which signed a landmark $10 billion deal for 48 Kaan aircraft in June 2025, has reportedly requested a configuration that's entirely free of U.S.-controlled components. That's not something TAI can deliver until the domestic engine is ready. The general manager of TR Motor, Osman Saim Dinç, described the engine project as "a matter of national survival," which tells you how seriously Ankara takes this dependency.

Export Ambitions and Buyers

One of the most interesting dimensions of the Kaan story is how quickly it has attracted foreign interest. Turkey is explicitly marketing the jet as a high-capability platform without the political strings typically attached to U.S. aircraft. No congressional approval required. No human rights conditions. No restrictions on how you use it. For many countries that have struggled to secure F-35 deals with Washington, that pitch is genuinely compelling.

Indonesia is the anchor customer so far, with 48 aircraft in a deal reported at $10 billion, which works out to roughly the same price range as an F-35A. Saudi Arabia is in what are described as final-stage negotiations, with President Erdoğan showcasing a Kaan model with Saudi markings at the World Defense Show in February 2026. TAI has also publicly acknowledged interest from Spain, the UAE, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, and Ukraine.

The TAI head has stated the company expects to deliver around 150 Kaan aircraft to partner countries over the program's lifetime. That would make it one of the most successful fighter export programs ever launched by a country outside the U.S., Europe, or Russia. Whether those numbers materialize depends heavily on the engine timeline and how the flight test campaign goes through 2027.

How the Kaan Compares to the F-35

Comparisons between the Kaan and the F-35 are inevitable, and they're not entirely unfair. Both are twin-engine stealth multirole fighters designed for air superiority and precision strike. Both feature advanced sensor fusion and internal weapons bays. Both are priced in roughly the same territory for export customers. But there are meaningful differences.

The F-35 is a mature, combat-proven platform with over 1,000 aircraft delivered to more than a dozen countries. Its sensor fusion and software maturity reflect decades of investment. The Kaan is still in early flight testing, with no weapons integration completed and a propulsion solution that won't be fully sorted until 2032. In a head-to-head comparison of what's actually flying and operational today, the F-35 wins by a wide margin, simply because it exists and the Kaan doesn't yet in production form.

Where the Kaan has a genuine advantage is in what I'd call access politics. Countries that can't get the F-35 (either because Washington won't sell it, or because the conditions attached are unworkable) now have a credible alternative path to fifth-generation capability. That's new. The only other comparable options are the Russian Su-57, which carries its own political baggage, and the Chinese J-35, which most countries outside the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation won't touch. The Kaan fills a real gap in the market.

The Kaan's real competitive edge isn't its radar cross-section. It's the fact that buying it doesn't require a call to Washington.

What Still Needs to Be Proven

It would be dishonest to write a complete picture of the TAI TF Kaan without flagging what remains unverified. The stealth credentials of the current prototypes are genuinely uncertain. The F110 engines don't have stealth-optimized nozzles, and it's not publicly confirmed how effective Turkey's radar-absorbing coatings and airframe shaping are in practice. TAI and Turkish officials insist the aircraft has genuine low-observability characteristics, but no independent testing data is available.

The weapons integration phase hasn't started in earnest. The early test flights have been focused on proving basic aerodynamics, flight controls, and the "green aircraft" configuration, in TAI's own words. Radar integration, electronic warfare validation, and live weapons testing are still ahead. That's a large amount of work before a 2029 delivery target, even by optimistic standards.

There's also the question of production scaling. TAI currently produces roughly one Hurjet trainer per month. Ramping up to two Kaans per month by the late 2020s, as planned, requires a substantial expansion in composite manufacturing, supply chain management, and trained workforce. These are solvable problems, but they're real ones. Western fifth-generation programs have consistently underestimated how hard production ramp-up is.

Final Thoughts

The TAI TF Kaan is genuinely impressive as a program achievement, regardless of where you stand on Turkish foreign policy or the geopolitics around it. Turkey went from having no indigenous fighter jet capability to a flying prototype in about 14 years, while also building out an entirely new domestic defense industrial base. That doesn't happen by accident. The Kaan is real, it flew, and its next prototypes are weeks away from their own first flights.

Whether it achieves full fifth-generation status depends almost entirely on two things: the domestic engine arriving by 2032, and the flight test campaign through 2027 validating the stealth and sensor fusion claims. If both of those go well, Turkey will have built something that genuinely reshapes how fighter jets get sold and who gets to buy them. That's worth paying attention to.

If you want to go deeper on the Kaan's avionics and sensor systems, check out our breakdown of the MURAD AESA radar and how it fits into Turkey's broader ASELSAN electronic warfare ecosystem. And if you're curious how the Kaan stacks up against other emerging fifth-generation programs like South Korea's KF-21 or Japan's F-X, that comparison guide is worth your time too.