Turkey Is Trying to Build Its Own “F-35” Like Stealth Fighter

Video Above: Army Research Lab Scientists… Building New Explosives

By Mark Episkopos,The National Interest

Turkey’s recent ejection from the F-35 program has spawned a wave of speculation as to the fate of Ankara’s procurement plans.

The Su-35, Eurofighter Typhoon, and Saab JAS 39 Gripen were advanced as prospective alternatives, with the former being seen as a particularly attractive option on the heels of the diplomatic goodwill generated by Turkey’s decision to import Russia’s S-400 system. But it is now emerging that the Turkish defense industry is actively pursuing an altogether different path: its own, domestically-built fifth-generation aircraft.

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) displayed an early pre-production model of their twin-engine TF-X fighter at last month’s Paris Air Show. TAI CEO TAI Temel Kotil is confident that the TF-X will enter serial production over the coming decade: “Our machine is a mock-up, but in 2023 there will be a real machine, and first flight is in 2025, and [it will be in] service in 2028,” he said at the unveiling. Kotil’s optimistic forecast is borne from TAI’s prior involvement with the F-35 partner program: “On the F-35, actually, my company is building the center fuselage.. so this means, in terms of manufacturing, Turkish Aerospace has enough strength to build this fighter.”

TAI’s current cited specifications include a top speed of Mach 2, a 600-mile effective combat radius, a maximum takeoff weight of 60,000 pounds. In other words, the TF-X not only physically resembles the F-35 but boasts a similar hardware specifications sheet. Replicating an already-proven design would seem to be a cost-effective recipe for success,  but- the F-35’s calling card has always been its unique avionics suite: namely, information fusion, the ability to double as an AWACS platform, and comprehensive AI integration on and off the battlefield. Lockheed Martin could only achieve such a sophisticated avionics package by making conscious trade-offs in the raw performance department, where the F-35 is largely outperformed by the competing Russian Su-57.

And therein lies the danger of Turkey modeling the TF-X fighter too closely after the F-35; given the likelihood that they lack the resources and license to reproduce the F-35’s avionics, the Turkish defense industry stands to inherit all of the F-35’s weaknesses while failing to capture its strengths.