The TAI Hürjet is a single-engine,

tandem seat Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

, supersonic advanced trainer and light combat aircraft, under development by

Turkish Aerospace Industries Turkish Aerospace Inc. ( tr, Türk Havacılık ve Uzay Sanayi A.Ş., TUSAŞ) is the center of technology in design, development, manufacturing, integration of aerospace systems, modernization and after sales support in Turkey. Located in Ankara ...

(TAI). The first flight of the aircraft is planned for 18 March 2023. The Turkish Air Force intends to use the design to replace the

Northrop T-38 Talon The Northrop T-38 Talon is a two-seat, twinjet supersonic jet trainer. It was the world's first, and the most produced, supersonic trainer. The T-38 remains in service in several air forces. The United States Air Force (USAF) operates the most ...

in the trainer role and also to supplement the

General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...

for

close air support In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and moveme ...

. The aircraft is also planned to replace the

Northrop F-5 The Northrop F-5 is a family of supersonic light fighter aircraft initially designed as a privately funded project in the late 1950s by Northrop Corporation. There are two main models, the original F-5A and F-5B Freedom Fighter variants and t ...

used by the Turkish Stars aerobatic team. A naval version of the aircraft may also be developed. The company also plans to pursue export orders to countries looking to replace older trainer and ground attack aircraft.

Design and development

The project was initiated by TAI in August 2017 using its own financial resources. A mock-up was displayed at the 2018 Farnborough International Airshow. On 22 July 2018 the Turkish Under-secretariat for Defence Industries announced that the

Turkish Air Force The Turkish Air Force ( tr, ) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The Turkish Air Force can trace its origins back to June 1911 when it was founded by the Ottoman Empire, however, the air force as it is known t ...

had signed an agreement with TAI, giving the project official status to move development forward. the aircraft did not have an engine selected, although the

Eurojet EJ200 The Eurojet EJ200 is a military low-bypass turbofan used as the powerplant of the Eurofighter Typhoon. The engine is largely based on the Rolls-Royce XG-40 technology demonstrator, which was developed in the 1980s. The EJ200 is built by the ...

and the General Electric F404-GE-102 were under consideration to the power the design. Capabilities are planned to include

air-to-air refuelling Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft ...

fly-by-wire Fly-by-wire (FBW) is a system that replaces the conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic signals transmitted by wires, and flight control co ...

with parameter limiting, built in

auxiliary power unit An auxiliary power unit (APU) is a device on a vehicle that provides energy for functions other than propulsion. They are commonly found on large aircraft and naval ships as well as some large land vehicles. Aircraft APUs generally produce 115& ...

night vision goggle A night-vision device (NVD), also known as a night optical/observation device (NOD), night-vision goggle (NVG), is an optoelectronic device that allows visualization of images in low levels of light, improving the user's night vision. The devi ...

-compatible cockpit,

head-up display A head-up display, or heads-up display, also known as a HUD (), is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a pilot being able to view informa ...

and an integrated helmet display system. The company completed the first test simulator for the aircraft in September 2020. Designated the Hurjet 270, the artificial intelligence based simulator will incorporate feedback from the test pilots to change the flight control algorithms and the avionics software during the flight test process. The company has developed simulator avionics, flight control systems, screen, cockpit and communication systems for the simulator. Turkey has invited Malaysia to join the Hürjet project, in the role of producing some parts for the aircraft. While Malaysia has some experience developing composite materials, it has never designed and built any aircraft.

Variants

;Trainer :Advanced supersonic jet trainer version ;Light Combat Aircraft :Version for close air support and armed air policing roles. The combat variant will carry locally produced air-to-air missiles and air-to-ground bombs.

Specifications (projected)

References

External links

* {{TAI aircraft Single-engined jet aircraft Turkish military trainer aircraft Shoulder-wing aircraft Proposed aircraft of Turkey Hurjet

Design and development

Variants

Specifications (projected)

See also

References

External links