Turkey's KAAN P1 Prototype Begins Taxi Trials Ahead of Maiden Flight

Turkish Aerospace released footage on July 31 showing the second airworthy prototype of the KAAN fighter, designated P1, taxiing under its own power at the company's facilities in Ankara. The runs are the last significant ground milestone before the aircraft's first flight.

Powered taxi testing exercises engine operation, braking, nosewheel steering and flight-control response at progressively higher speeds. Turkish Aerospace president Mehmet Demiroglu said at the Farnborough airshow that P1 could fly "within the next couple of months," pending completion of several ground and system-level tests. A third prototype, P2, is in assembly, and the company has said it wants both aircraft flying before the end of 2026.

P1 differs visibly from P0, the original prototype that flew on February 21 and again on May 6, 2024. Reported changes include revised control surfaces, reworked engine intakes and cockpit area, a cleaner external finish, and more robust landing gear set further apart. P1 also carries more representative avionics and flight-control software than the first airframe. P1 and P2 were publicly revealed on February 13, 2026.

Both prototypes fly on General Electric F110 turbofans, the same engine family that powers Turkey's F-16 fleet. Turkey holds ten engines for prototype work and received U.S. export authorization on July 9, 2026 for a further 80 to cover early serial production, in a package reported at more than $700 million. The indigenous TF35000 engine intended to replace them remains years from availability, leaving the program dependent on American export licences in the interim.

KAAN is intended to replace the backbone of the Turkish Air Force. GlobalMilitary.net inventory data records 238 F-16s in Turkish service — 153 F-16C/V and 85 older F-16C/D — alongside 48 F-4E Phantom II airframes still flying more than five decades after delivery. Turkey was removed from the F-35 program in 2019 following its purchase of the Russian S-400 system, leaving no fifth-generation option and making the domestic program central to Turkey's military strength over the next decade. An initial contract covers 20 Block 10 aircraft for delivery between 2028 and 2030, against a stated long-term requirement of 250. Indonesia signed for 48 aircraft in July 2025 and remains the only export customer.

No date has been announced for the P1 maiden flight. Turkish defense media have floated August 30, Victory Day, as a symbolic candidate, but Turkish Aerospace has not confirmed it. The 2028 target for first deliveries to the Turkish Air Force is widely regarded as ambitious given that the flight-test campaign has yet to begin in earnest.