A few corrections if I may,
2 billions in R&D. Quite good & here we are ccs has approved but still they haven't released funds. Our project has not got funding yet..
Btw still completed preliminary design review, critical design review & then detailed design review..
Prototype is usually build after critical design review.. you guys haven't completed preliminary design review.. when will that be completed ? I think it's technology demonstrator whatever it is. It was more for PR & Less for other(testing) purposes...
Those kaan's delivered in 2029 will be block 1 right ? It's part of phase 2.
Then in phase 3 aircrafts will reach planned capabilities. & Then will be delivered from 2034 upto 2040.
If this is the timeline then current aircraft is technology demonstrator for sure.
Our approach is different we first do critical design review and details design review then we go for prototype...
Amca's deliveries will also began From 2033-34..
& Btw how will you guys develop a indigeneous engine like do u have single crystal blade tech, laser drill technology, composites , alloys ready. I don't think such hundreds of technology will be developed in 4 years..
KAAN Project Management
The preliminary design of KAAN was initiated in April, 2021 and the PDR was completed in early 2023. As for the critical design review of Block 10(the aircrafts that are projected to be delivered in 2028) aircraft's CDR is scheduled for the Q3 of 2024(per the latest issue of TAI's magazine, i can post it as it has english translation).
Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has announced plans for the development of a second prototype of the Kaan indigenous combat aircraft. According to recent
daxstreet.com
The first protoype, as many knows, was intended only to be a ground test unit. And, to my recollection, I don't remember the declared rationale for its flight-airworthiness upgrade. Many modifications had to be made. It's a more expensive and riskier way to proceed with the program. But it paid off. It accelerated KAAN by at least a year. The entire aerospace industry of Turkey had to contort to bring all the pieces together. The deficiencies and the bottlenecks were detected early on. The actuators, the hydraulics, the landing gears, the flight computers, the generators, the apu, the software and many other subsystems had to be produced and be ready for the first flight. Now that it flew multiple times, the engineers are much more confident in themselves. The real prototype's flight in 2025 won't be much of a sweat. They gather real telemetry and data with each flights that they feed their simulation model so that it will speed up the development and validation of the software. The next prototype is in assembly phase and will be taken to hangar by the end of the year. It will be put on the landing gears in the beginning of 2025 and will fly afterwards.
About Turkey's turbine engine capabilites,
The first successful casting of single-crystal nickel superalloy was achieved in 2015. Today, both TS1400 and TF6000 uses third-generation SCBs in their high-pressure turbines. TS1400s is in test flights on T625 helicopter and TF6000 is in the bench testing phase.
Some of TEI's Technology Development Projects on high-tech materials used in the industry;
Yakut- Development Project for Additive Manufacturing Technology for Nickel Alloy Plating in Aviation
Aslan- Development of Aluminum Casting Processes for Aerospace
İnci- Development of Titanium Investment Casting Technology for Aviation
Dilek- Development of Superplastic Forming Process for Titanium Alloys
Kristal- Development Project for Nickel Super Alloy Material and Production Processes in Aviation
Örs- Development Project for the Titanium and Nickel Super Alloy Forging Technologies in Aviation
Atom- Development Project for Nickel Metal Powder, Which Is Suitable for Additive Manufacturing for Aviation Practices
Dinç Development Project for Aerospace Stainless Steel and Nickel Based Super Alloy
Elektron Development Project for Titanium Additive Manufacturing Process Through Electron Beam Melting Method (EBM)
MTAG Development of Indigenous Engine Design Equipment
(more details can be found in the link provided above)
Engine Composites,
I found this news
A quote:
"The fan duct inner casing system to be used in the TEI-TF6000 Turbofan Engine enables a lightweight engine design thanks to the use of composite materials. With the high strength advantage provided by the composite material, TEI will offer a competitive solution for the indigenous turbofan engine."
About general manufacturing capabilities of TEI,
the company has a dedicated page detailing their capabilities but since you asked for specifically the laser drilling technique, I copy-paste the section of "Special Processes" under the page.
TEI - Manufacturing Capabilities
Special Processes
"In special processes, which modify or change the inherent material properties of a part and which cannot be fully evaluated by non-destructive methods, innovative manufacturing techniques, cutting-edge technology and the highest quality standards are used
Robotic Thermal Spray Coatings (Coating of direct and non-line-of-sight surfaces of complex parts for protection against wear, corrosioni high temperatures; obtaining abradable and abrasive properties and for dimensial restoration with plasma HVOF and combustion flame techniques)
Shotpeening
Simultaneous Shotpeening
Inertia Welding
Ultrapolishing (Airfoil Surfaces)
Vacuum Heat Treatment
Vacuum Brazing
Chemical Processes
Robotic Anticorrosion Coating Applications
Sermetel Coating
Nickel Electroplating
Dry Lubricant Applications
Black Oxide Coating
Macro Etching
Titanium Macro Etching
Blue Etch Anodizing
Alkaline Cleaning & Titanium Cleaning
Chemical Milling
Non-Traditional Manufacturing Methods
Sink EDM
Wire EDM
Fast Hole EDM
STEM Drilling
Electrochemical Machining
Electrochemical Grinding
Laser Cutting and Drilling"
He is saying that Turkey will use F110 for now and shift to indigenous engine. But even then questions on the plane design, FBW, fire controls, mission computer etc arise. Turkey has absolutely no technology and no semiconductor of its own. How can it do any electronic stuff without imports is the big question.
There is no end for boasting and then rebranding imported items as indigenous. The first thing Turkey must develop is semiconductor foundry and then only can anything else be indigenised. Even North Korea has semiconductor foundry of 3mm lithography. Although old, it is good enough for indigenous SLVs, missiles and communications. Turkey has no foundry of its own. It only has a R&D mini lithography machine of 0.7mm which is completely reliant on USA supply chain and has limited production capacity
FBW(Fly-by-wire)
As I explained it before; KAAN, Hürjet, ANKA-3 and Kızılelma are all unstable airframes. They all have FBW to be able to fly stably. And recently Hürjet has started to get into the realm of high maneuverability. We will watch many imposing moves by Hürjet in the coming months. The first deliveries of Hürjet will be made to the acrobacy team Türk Yıldızları next year.
Semiconductors & Computers
The mission computer of KAAN was designed and built by Tübitak BİLGEM
The following systems produced by TÜBİTAK BİLGEM took part in the first flight of KAAN;
Flight Control and Aircraft Management Computers: They are computers in which the engine, flight control surfaces (ailerons) and other aircraft systems are managed.
Central Management Computers: They are 5th Generation Integrated Modular Avionics computers that manage the main on-board systems and weapon systems, produce images for avionic displays and helmet-mounted display units, and ensure the cyber security of the aircraft.
Task Management Computers: These are the computers in which the data of communication, navigation, electro-optical targeting, radar and electronic warfare systems are processed and managed.
Avionics Interface Units: These are the units that convert the on-board sensor and actuator signals and provide communication with systems with old-style interfaces.
Deterministic Network: It is a high-speed optical network that enables data with different levels of criticality to be transported over the same medium without affecting each other.
High-Speed Network: It is an optical network that allows large amounts of sensor data to be transported to management computers at very high speed.
Multi-Core Real-Time Operating System: These are the operating systems on which all KAAN's computers run, which enable applications at different levels of criticality to run with high performance without affecting each other.
Middleware: All KAAN's software; They are middleware software that enables communication between sensors and each other, performs protocol conversion of interfaces, creates display graphic interfaces and enables the operation of artificial intelligence applications.
KAAN'ın ilk uçuşunda TÜBİTAK detayı | DefenceTurk
Indigenous semiconductor manufacturing capabilities;
Tübitak Yital has 0.25μm CMOS manufacturing capability,
Aselsan, on the other hand, produces all GaN, GaAs, VOx, InGaAs, MCT, T2SL semiconductors in house. The MCT detectors, for instance, have 10μm pixel pitch.
Furthermore, there was news in 2023 from Industry and Technology minister, saying that Turkey will start building a fab in Kocaeli that will produce 65nm transistors.