Ankara, Baku to cooperate in development of Türkiye's 5th generation fighter jet

Türkiye and Azerbaijan have agreed on cooperation as part of the project of developing the 5th generation Turkish fighter jet Kaan, Report informs via TRT Haber.

According to the information, the agreement will be formalized by a bilateral document, which is planned to be signed within the framework of the International Defense Industry Exhibition (IDEF-2023) taking place in Istanbul.

The Yeni Shafaq newspaper notes in this regard that Baku's participation in this project should be viewed as an important step in modernizing Azerbaijan's Air Force that is equipped with Russian airplanes Mig-29.

According to Defence Turk, specialized in the topic of defense industry, Ukraine may also join the project of developing the Turkish fighter jet.

The work on the 5th generation fighter jet Kaan has been carried out in Türkiye since 2017 as part of the National Combat Plane program since 2017. The aircraft is expected to perform its first flight this year and its full-scale production will start in 2028. The Turkish authorities have previously stated that the Kaan will surpass the American F-35 in terms of tactical and technical characteristics and will further replace the F-16 fighters in service with the country's Air Force.