KAAN, a fighter jet made in Türkiye, conducted its maiden test flight, the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) said, on Wednesday.
The first fifth-generation fighter jet manufactured domestically aims to rejuvenate Turkish army's fleet.
The latest development makes Türkiye one of the few countries to own this technology.
The aircraft, for which the project began in 2016, was rolled out in March 2023.
The 21-metre aircraft can reach a maximum speed of 1.8 Mach thanks to its twin engines, which can produce 13,000 kilogrammes of thrust each.
KAAN has several features such as high situational awareness, optimised pilot workload, combat damage detection, new generation mission systems, low observability, precision strike, and internal weapon bay.
Türkiye is rising in defence industry
Türkiye has become a defence products exporting country thanks to a positive change that happened because the Turkish government decided to make its own weapons in the early 2000s.
Since then, Turkish companies have been producing various military equipment like rifles, armored vehicles, missile systems, and advanced armed drones, which are now well-known worldwide.
The defence industry of Türkiye has significantly contributed to the national economy reaching a record level of $5.5 billion in exports, a 27 percent increase from the previous year.
The average export value surpassed $65 per kilogrammes. This growth serves as an indicator of increased trust in Turkish defence industry products, with the number of countries receiving exports rising from 176 to over 185.
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