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In November, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) unveiled the first prototype of its Next Generation Fighter (NGFA), the MMU (Milli Muharip Ucak). The unit is currently in the final assembly stage as TAI’s production facility. TAI is working to complete the prototype by 2023 and, in turn, fly the aircraft by 2026.
Turkey began planning a domestic NGFA in 2010 with the goal of gradually replacing its F-16C/D multirole fighter. Turkey has invited several OEMs to help develop the fighter, and received responses from Sweden’s Saab and Britain’s BAE Systems.
In 2017, TAI signed a contract with BAE Systems. Under the £100m-plus deal, the latter provided TAI with design and development assistance. However, this was a transactional agreement with BAE selling services to TAI. Ultimately, Turkey aimed to domesticate key TFKS inputs and, after exiting the F-35 Lightning II program, build a turnkey TFKS industry in the country…
Another important aspect of the MMU is Turkey’s ongoing effort to invite other countries, such as Pakistan, to cooperate in the program. Turkey’s likely motivations for inviting foreign partners were likely centered on achieving economies of scale and, potentially, cost savings by pooling resources.
However, for some countries – notably Pakistan – MMU’s reliance on ITAR inputs (such as engine) was a major barrier to entry into the program. This was understandable given the turbulent nature of Pakistan’s ties with the United States, which has shown a willingness to block third-party engine transfers.
But with Turkey actively moving towards developing a largely – if not entirely – indigenous MMU, this perception (of ITAR risk) may change. In fact, the wider Turkish aerospace industry is beginning to make major inroads in Pakistan, particularly in the area of drones. Therefore, as Turkish industry demonstrates greater control over critical TFKS/MMU inputs, it may begin to attract partners.
Turkey’s defense industry – both in the public and private sectors – thrives on key TFKS/MMU inputs such as:
Domestic turbofan engines
TAI will power the first MMU prototype(s) with a General Electric (GE) F110 turbofan engine. This is the same engine used on the Turkish Air Force F-16. In fact, the Turkish defense industry has built a significant level of infrastructure to support and, to some extent, even manufacture the F110. So extending its use to MMU made sense from an economic standpoint as it reuses existing costs.
However, Turkey is working on equipping the MMU with indigenously developed turbofan engines. A central player in these plans appears to be TR Motor, an arm of TAI (which took over the entity from BMC, a local private sector giant). TAI/TR Motor tries to locally develop every critical part of turbofan engines, including heavy components, such as turbine and crystal blades…
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Sensors and avionics
Aselsan and Havelsan take the lead in the development of the MMU radar, electro-optical (EO) sensor, human-machine interface (HMI) and electronic countermeasures (ECM) systems…
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Air-to-air and air-to-ground ammunition
Turkey also has a growing inventory of indigenously developed air-to-air missiles (AAMs) and advanced air-to-surface munitions, such as anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs), air-launched cruise missiles (ALCMs), stand-off weapons (SOVs), and precision guided bombs (PGB)…
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Growth of aviation infrastructure for MMU
The MMU will reportedly have more than 20,000 individual components. And not only that, TAI’s general director Dr. Temel Kotil expects that as many as 6,000 engineers could work on the project…
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