Turkey’s new KAAN fighter prototype completes first taxi test ahead of flight

Turkish Aerospace has released footage showing the KAAN P1 prototype completing its first taxi test, the first of two new airframes built to carry the bulk of the fifth-generation fighter’s flight test campaign. 

The video, published on July 31, 2026, shows the aircraft moving under its own power at the company’s Ankara facility for a low-speed taxi test. 

#KAAN pic.twitter.com/wWXXweP4af— Türk Havacılık Uzay Sanayii (@TUSAS_TR) July 31, 2026

The prototype in the footage is not the airframe that first took KAAN into the air. That aircraft, designated P0, was the first flying prototype and was used to validate basic flight characteristics, the flight control system and the platform itself. It carried out runway and taxi trials in March 2023 before flying twice in 2024, on February 21 and again on May 6, when it stayed airborne for 14 minutes and reached 10,000 feet. It has since been reassigned to ground and system-level testing. 

P1 and P2 were shown publicly in Ankara on February 13, 2026, and were developed using feedback from the demonstrator’s flights.  

First flight expected within months 

Ground personnel guide the new P1 prototype of Türkiye’s KAAN fighter during its first taxi test at TUSAŞ facilities in Ankara. (Credit: TUSAŞ)Speaking at the Farnborough International Airshow, held from July 20 to 24, 2026, Turkish Aerospace president and CEO Mehmet Demiroglu said P1 could fly within the next couple of months, pending completion of several ground and system-level tests, with P2 following before the end of 2026 and both aircraft flying alongside each other by year-end. 

Demiroglu said the company holds 10 F110 engines in Ankara for prototype and flight test work and is acquiring 80 more for initial serial production, after the export authorization process cleared the US Congress on July 9, 2026. Washington had notified Congress of the $700 million sale in June 2026. 

2028 delivery target maintained 

Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries contracted a first batch of 20 Block 10 aircraft in May 2026, with deliveries scheduled between 2028 and 2030. Demiroglu said at Farnborough that the 2028 date for the first delivery to the Turkish Air Force still stands. Indonesia, which signed for 48 aircraft in July 2025, remains the program’s only export customer. The post Turkey’s new KAAN fighter prototype completes first taxi test ahead of flight appeared first on AeroTime.

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