LIMA 2025: Turkish Aerospace says global sales of Kaan dependent on domestic acquisition

Türkiye flew its Kaan combat aircraft for the first time in February 2024. This is a representative image of the aircraft. (Turkish Aerospace)

While Turkish Aerospace's Kaan National Combat Aircraft (MMU) fifth-generation fighter aircraft has attracted interest from several countries – including some in the Asia-Pacific region – the aircraft may not achieve substantial global sales unless it enters service with the Turkish Air Force (Türk Hava Kuvvetleri: THK), Mehmet Demiroğlu, the company's CEO and president has told Janes .

Speaking to Janes at the 2025 Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) Exhibition in Malaysia on 20 May, Demiroğlu said countries in the Asia-Pacific have expressed interest in the aircraft even though the platform is currently under development.

However, with Kaan being developed in Türkiye, the THK's procurement of the aircraft is an important “milestone event” to signal to other countries that the platform is mature for operational service, Demiroğlu added. “Our goal is to try to provide THK with an initial batch of aircraft by 2028,” he said.

The Kaan project is part of Türkiye's broader strategy to achieve self-reliance in fifth-generation air combat power while diversifying international partnerships. In developing the aircraft, Türkiye has made efforts to engage a few Asia-Pacific countries in the programme.

In 2024 Haluk Görgün, the president of the Secretariat of Defence Industries (SSB), told Malaysia's state-owned Bernama news agency that Türkiye is “open” to collaborating with Malaysia on the Kaan MMU programme. Two years earlier Turkish Aerospace also offered Malaysia partner status on the same platform, then known as the Turkish Fighter Experimental (TF-X) project.

Pakistan interest