Talking about other things, I have just noticed that the PDR is scheduled to be done in 2022. Normally the CDR takes over a year after PDR so that has to be sometime around late 2023 or early 2024. From what I know, the first prototype is to be completed by 2023, the centenary of the Republic of Turkey.
My source is the presentation done by TUSAS in 2018 when the program officially started. It's only been 2 years since then so I think that the information on the presentation is still valid. (
https://c1.assets-cdn.io/event/3616/assets/8458919308-72b413a53a.pdf)
So it either means that the schedule is accelerated almost by a year or the forum members who talked about these had wrong information. Here's one example for these claims on this thread.
no one said tfx it will fly in 2023 . it will a rollout ceremony after then it will continue with ground test with ge 110 engine . i think hurjet and atak 2 will fly in 2023
This also makes sense comparing it to other jets like the F-22 or F-35 as it took both of them 6 years from YF-22 / X-35 till the completion of first EMD model. The official development of MMU started on September of 2018 so prototypes being completed in 2024 or 2025 makes ton of sense.
I also recall that Hurjet's maiden flight is scheduled to take place on 2023 which is a schedule that is delayed by a year due to Covid according to this news :
Hürjet Agreement Between TAI and Stirling Dynamics - Stirling Dynamics signed a contract with TAI to provide consultancy in the fields of cargo and aeroelastics. Stirling Dynamics, Jet Training and Lightweight
www.raillynews.com
It seems like TAI has signed a new contract with Stirling Dynamics for technical assistance up to the critical design review phase.
However, we may take the article with a grain of salt as the article claims that the trainer jet is aimed to perform the first test flight of Hurjet in 2022 even though another article from the same media says that the first flight is delayed until 2023 due to Covid-19 by citing TAI General Manager and it seems like they have not decided on whether the trainer jet would feature a single engine or two engines.
TUSAŞ General Manager Temel Kotil, HÜRJET Will Be in the Sky in 2023 - Jet training and light attack aircraft of the Turkish Air Force Command within the scope of the HÜRJET Project initiated by Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc.
www.raillynews.com
It seems like Turkey is trying to fly something by 2023 regardless.
which I would rather call it a normalization, as there are sources showing that Hurjet's development only started a year earlier than MMU.
Too old picture. It's from beginnig of conceptual desing.
Here it is also shown that the plan back then was to complete CDR by last August but as we've seen from SgtGungHo's post above, the critical design was still going on in September, a month after the planned CDR. So I think this confirms the aforementioned delays.
Whatever the cause, we should then expect the CDR mid-late next year unless there are any further delays. It also makes me wonder if there were any effect of Covid to the MMU program if it did indeed affect the Hurjet's development schedule. This is the reason I think that the rescheduling was rather the normalization of the development plan as we haven't hear of any delays for the MMU as of yet. If MMU was indeed affected by Covid just like the Hurjet we could also expect it to be delayed for around a year.
What may also be the case is that the delay in Hurjet's maiden flight caused by Covid was concerning the engine, as there were tight travelling restrictions, so it would have been hard for the personnel of foreign engine suppliers, be it Klimov or Eurojet, as there were multiple sources mentioning one of them to power Hurjet's prototype, would not have been able to travel into Turkey nor would have it been possible for Turkish personnel to fly to UK/Germany or Russia. This furthermore could mean that MMU prototype is indeed powered by F110s from F-16s as there is no problem at all concerning Covid and travel restriction if they are sourcing those engines domestically. This can explain why there were no delays for MMU.
Of course these are all just a hot guess so I could be wrong but it's an interesting topic nonetheless.
So summarizing infos :
Official start of development of Hurjet - 2017 (T0)
Hurjet's planned CDR - 09.2020 (delayed due to Covid)
Hurjet's new schedule for CDR - probably around Q2/3 of 2021
Hurjet's maiden flight - 2023 (centenary of the Republic of Turkey, with either RD-33 or EJ200. More sources mention Ej200 so likely EJ200 but concerning recent diplomatic woes with Germany it is also very likely that Hurjet's prototype is powered by RD-33 variant)
Domestic turbofan engine will replace the foreign engine used for the prototype.
Official start of development of MMU - August/September 2018 (T0)
MMU's planned PDR - second half of 2022 (no delays announced as of yet)
MMU's schedule for CDR - probably late 2023
completion of first MMU EMD prototype - probably late 2024 or early 2025 (there were claims in this thread mentioning 2023 but highly unlikely)
MMU's maiden flight - 2025/2026 (F110s are announced to power the prototypes. It has also been claimed 5 engines were delivered to TAI for the prototypes)
Domestic turbofan engine will replace the foreign engine used for the prototype -The first run of the engine is planned to take place in 2026 and is planned to be ready for mass production by 2029. This means all the ground and flight testing complete, and the engine is ready to be certified for military use by 2029. 9 years from now. It is claimed that the total budget is in the region of $ 6 billion.
There are also claims RR is cooperating, providing TA and also on top of TEI, who is participating in form of TUSAS' stake in TR Motor, Kale is involved in the program as they have formerly teamed up with RR to form TAEC and have been participating in JSF partner program in Turkey as P&W's partner. TR Motor itself consists of shares owned by BMC, TAI and SSB. Majority stake lies on BMC who owns 55%. TAI(TUSAS) owns 35% of the company, who also owns majority stake of TEI, a JV with GE who manufactures the vast majority of gas turbine engines in use by the Turkish Armed Forces either by developing it themselves or licensing it from GE. Due to BMC, it is expected that there is a certain degree of capital investment from the Qataris concerning their oil money but not much has been made known. There have been reports that RR and the British government were subjecting against the involvement of the Qatari capital and this has been mentioned as point of conflict when the renegotiation was announced mid and late last year, along with disputes over IP rights among other disagreements.
www.reuters.com
www.savunmasanayist.com
... the funny part on this plain ignorant statement is that China already has a track record f successful developed fighter aircraft of different generations including firth generation types, that China has successfully mastered the development of several engine, while Turkey still tries. So, who is a "wannabe superpower"?
en.defenceturk.net
