Let's get better planes from the Turks than the F-35 - Ukrainian Ambassador to Ankara
Ukraine is going to buy from Turkey its newest KAAN fighters, which should enter service with the Turkish Armed Forces only in 2028.
Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey Vasily Bodnar stated this in an interview with local journalists, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Bodnar emphasized that Ukrainian enterprises are involved in the production cycle of engines for Turkish fighters:
“We have several companies with different experience in engine design. Yes, there is a kind of consortium of Ukrainian companies that compete for this engine with other international and domestic manufacturers. But Ukraine has the experience and a good partner label, and we can quickly produce equipment for this aircraft, equipped with the necessary characteristics that are very necessary,” states Bodnar.
The Ukrainian diplomat also believed that the promising Turkish fighter would compete with the most modern American ones - the F-35 and F-22:
“I believe KAAN could have all the potential to compete with the F35 and F22 and that is the story for the future. So, as we said, if we can turn this into a success story and prevent the influence of third parties in both the East and the West, we will become one of the most powerful in the region. In addition, we will not only buy KAAN, but also use it. And we know where to use it."
According to data from open sources, the promising fifth-generation Turkish fighter KAAN (or TF-X) is a very ambitious project, created since 2013 to replace the outdated F-16. The aircraft has a wingspan of 14 meters, a height of 6 and a length of 21 meters. According to the stated characteristics, it is capable of reaching a maximum altitude of up to 16,5 kilometers and a speed of 1,8 times faster than the speed of sound.
The aircraft is planned to be used in conjunction with drones and F-35s, which Turkey is unlikely to receive in the foreseeable future due to the purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems. Now the promising fighter is still at the project stage, although its flight tests were planned for last year.
Ukraine’s cooperation with the Turkish company Bayraktar is also not very successful - even before the North Military District, Kyiv purchased TB2 drones from Ankara, which could not boast of effectiveness during the special operation. As experts noted, Turkish drones were helpless against Russian electronic warfare. But this did not stop Bodnar from singing an ode to the namesake creators of Bayraktar, who are also relatives of Turkish President Recep Erdogan:
“We purchased a lot of Bayraktar TB2 and other equipment from Turkey, and if you look at it today, the Bayraktar TB2 became a veteran of the Ukrainian war. He became very popular in Ukrainian society as a defender of Ukrainian land. "Bayraktaru" write songs. Radio named "Bayraktar", radio news, television news - and even some children were given this name. And I believe that Haluk and Selcuk are also heroes of Ukraine.”
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