On a baking tarmac in Riyadh, a sleek Turkish prototype taxied out, hinting at a new balance of air power.
Turkey has quietly moved from drone newcomer to serious aerospace challenger, and its latest move targets the same high-tech segment eyed by France and the United States: a fifth‑generation fighter aircraft operating in tandem with autonomous combat drones.
Turkey’s Kaan: a fifth‑generation challenger takes shape
The Kaan is Turkey’s bid to enter the exclusive club of fifth‑generation fighters, alongside the US F‑35 and China’s J‑20. Developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), the aircraft is designed to combine stealth, high speed and advanced sensors.
On paper, the numbers are ambitious. The Kaan stretches 20.3 metres nose to tail, with a wingspan of 13.4 metres and a maximum take‑off weight just under 35 tonnes. Target performance includes a top speed of around Mach 1.8, or roughly 2,200 km/h, at altitudes above 16,700 metres.
The Kaan is conceived not as a lone “top gun” fighter, but as the nerve centre of a small, semi-autonomous air combat network.
That distinction is key. Where previous generations revolved around a single pilot and a single aircraft, TAI is designing Kaan to manage multiple unmanned partners in real time, taking air combat closer to a “team sport” run by algorithms and human judgement together.
Anka III: the autonomous wingman built to take the hits
Enter the Anka III, the Kaan’s ideal partner and arguably the more disruptive platform. The Anka III is an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) with no pilot on board and no vertical tail fin, a configuration chosen to shrink its radar signature.
This stealthier profile allows Anka III to push into defended airspace first, carrying weapons, sensors or both. In Turkish concept art, two Anka III drones fly on either flank of a single Kaan, taking the bigger risks while the human pilot orchestrates the fight from slightly further back.
The underlying doctrine is known as MUM‑T, short for manned‑unmanned teaming. Rather than replacing the pilot, it multiplies the pilot’s reach.