By Kris Osborn, President, Warrior
(Washington DC) Turkey’s new TAI TF Kaan 5th-gen stealth fighter took to the sky for the first time in February of 2024, an event which raised speculation about its ability to rival the US-F35 and F-22 with “sensor fusion, autonomy, supercruise, EW, precision weapons and next-gen data link technology.”
All of these technological attributes reportedly woven into the new Turkish aircraft do appear to mirror those of an F-35, and the external configuration of the TAI TF looks like a blend or combination of both F-35 and F-22 characteristics. The aircraft’s inlets, rounded front and curved, blended wing-body shape resembles the F-35, yet its dual-engine design makes the back resemble an F-22.
Advanced Technology
Available specs on the fighter detail a range of areas of technological focus, including critical areas of Integrated Electro-Optical Systems such as Infrared Search and Track (IRST), EW, AESA and Synthetic-aperture radar and various kinds of RF technologies.
A close look at available information indicates that Turkey’s intent is to replicate or improve upon the F-35s “sensor fusion” computing system designed to aggregate, pool, analyze and display sensor information from otherwise disparate sources into a single, integrated picture.
Descriptions of some of the component technologies can be found in a series of published specs and essays by Aselan, a Turkish company focused on advanced military technologies and subsystems. One key area of intended “fusion” for the fighter jet, the Aselan materials indicate, is to integrate tactical radio signals and satellite-based communication systems with navigational data, instrumentation and automatic terrain and collision avoidance systems. This is quite similar to the F-35 system which integrates key avionics data with targeting, sensing and navigational information.
Turkish “flying computer”
It makes sense that Turkish developers would also integrate what Aselan calls “mission computing” designed to generate real-time flight controls and networking technologies. Many refer to the F-35 as a flying computer, so it would not be surprising if the TAI TF Kaan were modeled after the successful integration of computing and mission systems demonstrated in the F-35.
The Turkish jet is listed as capable of hitting speeds of Mach 1.8, placing the TAI TF Kaan roughly in the same sphere as the F-35 and well-below the F-22’s Mach 2.25 speed. The aircraft is also equipped with a suite of countermeasures or self-protection technologies such as a Radar Warning Receiver, decoys, jamming and Laser and IR threat detection systems.
Loyal Wingman
Alongside these apparent technological synergies, perhaps the largest alignment between the F-35 and Turkey’s emerging aircraft pertains to Concepts of Operation such as “autonomous wingman” operations and manned-unmanned teaming. Quite similar to US Air Force initiatives with the F-35, F-22 and 6th-Gen NGAD platform, the new Turkish fighter seeks to enable manned fighter jets to operate in close coordination with groups of unmanned systems.
This concept is something the Air Force Research Laboratory has demonstrated with the F-35 by enabling it to exchange in-flight data with a Valkyrie drone. The manned-unmanned teaming concept is also central to the Air Forces “family of systems” approach to NGAD which is already fast-tracking lower-cost combat collaborative aircraft in position to perform high-risk sensing and attack missions while manned fighters operate at a safer stand-off distance.Kris Osborn is the Military Technology Editor of 19FortyFive and President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
