Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ) handed over the first two HÜRKUŞ-II training aircraft to the Turkish Air Force on Monday at a ceremony at its Kahramankazan facility, where the head of Türkiye’s defense procurement agency said the order had been expanded to 55 aircraft, all due in service by the end of 2028.
The aircraft carry tail numbers 25-05 and 26-06. Haluk Görgün, president of the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB), described the HÜRKUŞ as the first original manned aircraft designed and certified in Türkiye.
“Today, for the first time, Türkiye is entrusting its own manned aircraft to its own pilots,” Görgün said.
Deliveries are planned to reach 12 aircraft by the end of the year, and the HÜRKUŞ fleet will begin serving in the Air Force in 2027, Görgün said.
“We expanded our procurement program, which began with 15 aircraft, to a total of 55 aircraft with the addition of 40 more,” he said, adding that deliveries would continue on the planned schedule.
TUSAŞ Board Chairman Ömer Cihad Vardan, TUSAŞ General Manager Mehmet Demiroğlu and Air Force Commander Gen. Rafet Dalkıran attended the ceremony.
Testing and military type certification
About 23,000 hours of testing went into the HÜRKUŞ development process, covering ground, laboratory and system integration work, Görgün said. The aircraft received its military type certificate under international standards on Sept. 9.
“Thus, in addition to designing and manufacturing, we have attained the capability to test and certify our own aircraft,” Görgün said.
He said he had taken part in the final test flight before delivery, about two weeks ago, alongside Dalkıran.
Common cockpit architecture with HÜRJET and KAAN
The cockpit and avionics architecture of the HÜRKUŞ was designed to be fully compatible with the HÜRJET jet trainer and the KAAN fighter. Pilots who move on to those aircraft will find advanced versions of systems they already know instead of an unfamiliar architecture, Görgün said.
“We are transferring the design, development, testing and integration experience we gained with the HÜRKUŞ to the HÜRJET and KAAN,” he said. The engineers on the project had an average age of 28 when it began, he added.
Dalkıran said the HÜRKUŞ would play a significant role in the Turkish Air Force’s pilot training. He said the aircraft would form the foundation for training and operations on new domestic platforms, the HÜRJET and KAAN in particular.
Domestic content and suppliers
The HÜRKUŞ-II is being produced with a domestic content rate approaching 80 percent. TUSAŞ is the prime contractor, with the following companies as subcontractors: ASELSAN, HAVELSAN, TASECS, KAREL, ANDAR, TAAC, Fotoniks, Volt Teknoloji, Volo, UDEA.
Domestic subsystems and software make it easier to integrate national munitions on the aircraft, Görgün said. Beyond basic training, the HÜRKUŞ-II can fly light attack and close air support missions.
Export prospects
Countries in several regions have expressed interest in the aircraft, Görgün said.
“We know there is a demand in the basic training aircraft market that encompasses hundreds of aircraft,” he said. “We can already say that we will soon begin sharing news about HÜRKUŞ exports with you.”
Aircraft for friendly and allied countries will be built on the production lines at the same time as those for Türkiye, he said. “To a country that chooses HÜRKUŞ, we offer not only our aircraft but also the national systems operating on it.”
Demiroğlu called the HÜRKUŞ a “milestone” in fixed-wing aircraft. The expertise built up from the HÜRKUŞ through the HÜRJET and KAAN has made Türkiye one of only four countries in the world in this field, he said.
Wider delivery pipeline
Görgün said the defense industry had entered a phase of serial production and rapid delivery across many projects. Air, land and naval platforms, Steel Dome components and missile systems will be added to the inventory in the coming period, he said.
The ceremony ended with Görgün presenting the delivery certificate to Dalkıran, followed by a HÜRKUŞ flyover.
