After the TB2 drone, will the Turkish Hürjet training and attack aircraft be Ankara's next export success?

As we have already mentioned, announcements follow one another at a frantic pace in recent weeks, about Turkish military equipment programs. After the first flight of the Kizilelma supersonic drone at the end of last year, and the presentation of the ANCA-3 stealth drone a month ago, it was the turn of the helicopter carrier and drone carrier TCG Anadolu to join the Turkish Navy on April 10, then to the first two Altay tanks equipped with a South Korean engine and transmission, to be presented to the public a few days ago. It is obvious that important electoral considerations underlie this acceleration of the announcements, the defense industry having been one of the main successes of President Erdogan in recent years, unlike for example the economy, while the deadline presidential elections on May 14 are rapidly approaching, and that the main opponent of Erdogan, M Kiliçdaroglu, is neck and neck with the latter according to the polls.

It is in this context that the first Turkish supersonic combat aircraft made its first flight on April 23. The Hürjet, which can be translated as “Local bill jet”, indeed took to the air for the first time this Sunday, for a 26-minute flight with the train out (which is classic for a first flight). According to its manufacturer TAI, the aircraft would have reached an altitude of 14.000 feet and a speed of 250 knots. This is unquestionably a success for Turkey's aviation and military industry, which managed to design and fly its first domestically designed jet aircraft in just 7 years, with the program starting in 2017. And even though the he aircraft still incorporates certain key imported components, including the F404 turbojet engine which equips the F/A 18 Hornet but also the Swedish Gripen or the South Korean FA-50, TAI now enters the very closed class of manufacturers who have actually designed an aircraft of modern combat.

According to the schedule announced by TAI, the aircraft manufacturer plans to produce from 2026, 2 aircraft per month, in particular to replace the two-seater T-38 Talon and F-5 still used by the Turkish Air Force to train and train its fighter pilots. . But it is above all the huge export market cleared by the success of TAI and Baykar drones in recent years, which today constitutes the main target of this program, which aims to produce a device with the capabilities of a very modern light fighter, at the price of a trainer. For many countries, especially for many air forces in Africa and the Caucasus who have already been able to appreciate the performance and reliability of the TB2, it is very likely that the Hürjet will appear as one of the most attractive alternatives for modernizing their air forces.

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