THIS neighbouring country of India takes refuge in Turkey, will buy 5th generation fighter jet…

Another maritime neighbour of India has decided to buy fifth-generation fighter aircraft KAAN from Turkey. According to a Bloomberg report, during an official visit to Ankara on April 10, 2025, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has shown keen interest in joining Turkey’s fifth-generation fighter jet program KAAN. During this, the President of Indonesia has emphasized on strengthening defense partnership with Turkey which has made tremendous progress in the field of airspace and navy in the last few years. As a result, many countries are showing interest in joining Turkey’s fighter jet program.

Strategic relations between Turkey and Indonesia have strengthened significantly in the last few years. Indonesia continues to grapple with regional and maritime threats, so it is trying to replace its air force’s old aircraft with more modern ones. Addressing a joint press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Indonesian President Subianto said that “Indonesia wants to participate in the development of the fifth-generation KAAN fighter jet with Turkish industry as well as submarine development.”

Indonesia wants fifth-generation fighter jets

A news report by Indonesia’s Antara news agency described his remarks as a move away from Western powers and diversifying defence purchases amid intensifying competition in the defence industry. New bilateral agreements in culture, disaster management and media have been signed between Turkey and Indonesia, joining thirteen cooperation pacts signed between Ankara and Jakarta in February.

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has developed the fifth generation fighter aircraft under the KAAN program. Its purpose was to end Turkey’s dependence on foreign countries. Turkey’s relations with Western countries often deteriorate. In 2019, Turkey was excluded from the F-35 Fifth Generation Fighter Jet program by the US due to the purchase of S-400 air defense from Russia. Therefore, since then Turkey has been trying to achieve technological sovereignty very fast. After withdrawing from the F-35 program, Turkey focused a lot on KAAN and worked fast and as a result, the prototype of the KAAN Fifth Generation fighter aircraft has been tested and is now in the production stage. Many countries have shown interest in joining the KAAN project, including Saudi Arabia.

KAAN, formerly known as TF-X, is a fifth-generation fighter aircraft, which is being developed with the technical support of BAE Systems. It has an advanced stealth design using radar-absorbing material (RAM), which is claimed to be ten times more effective than the F-35 in extreme environmental conditions. This fighter jet will generate up to 38,000 pounds of thrust. Apart from this, it has a double engine, which enables the aircraft to reach a speed of 1.8 Mach, which is a much better performance than the F-35. The speed of the F-35 is limited to Mach 1.6.

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