Was President Recep Tayyip Erdogan unaware that to progress an ambitious Turkish programme to build a world-class fifth-generation fighter jet his engineers need to secure deliveries of American General Electric engines?

For several years now, Ankara has regularly boasted about the prowess evident in its development of the KAAN combat aircraft. The claim that Turkey’s leader was not aware of the engine difficulty – aired this week by a local journalist during a Turkish TV programme that included a discussion of the September 25 White House meeting between Erdogan and US President Donald Trump – has clearly ruffled some feathers. Erdogan’s presidential communications office on October 1 called the claim “a clear act of disinformation”.

The fact that the KAAN will remain a pipe dream until Turkey either develops or imports an adequate engine – first for the prototype, and then for the real thing – has  been reported several times by bne IntelliNews in response to hyped-up media reports on advances apparently made in work on the KAAN and the national pride they have evoked.

International aerospace trade journal focus in the past week turned to the important role being played by US engine technology when Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, speaking in New York, grumbled that the United States Congress was holding up export licences required by Nato partner country Turkey for a batch of General Electric F110 engines ordered for latest KAAN prototypes. AeroTime was among publications that reported Fidan’s comments on September 29. 

Fidan was displeased that “the KAAN’s engines are waiting for approval in the US Congress” and that licences had been “suspended.”

Video released last year of the first flight of a prototype of the KAAN "national combat aircraft".

As reports grew that Erdogan when meeting Trump was not informed about the need for the General Electric engines, his office circulated a statement on social media, saying: “The claims that our president was not informed or was misinformed are a clear act of disinformation targeting the Presidency.”

The KAAN, built by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), is meant to provide the Turkish Air Force with an indigenous stealth aircraft. The first prototype flew in February 2024. A second test flight was completed in May 2024. The early prototypes used some available F110 engines, which are derivatives of the powerplant used on the F-16 fighter jet.

The KAAN is to eventually transition to an indigenous engine, but the delivery of such a system remains years away. 

Turkey announced the development of the KAAN when the US banned it from acquiring F-35s, such as seen above (Credit: USAF).

As things stand, Turkey remains barred by US sanctions from procuring Lockheed Martin F-35 strike fighters. The fifth-generation F-35 aircraft is the world’s most advanced fighter jet. Ankara was kicked out of the development programme for the plane after in 2019, during the first Trump presidential term, going against Washington’s wishes by purchasing S-400 missile defence systems from the Kremlin.

Turkey has struck preliminary deals with several countries around the world to sell their air forces the KAAN. If the deliveries are realised, Ankara will earn tens of billions of dollars. But with the project still dependent on US technology to move forward, such deals could prove to be not worth the paper they are written on.