Turkey Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Anka-3



"While I was on the Çanakkale flight with HÜRKUŞ yesterday, GÖKBEY, ANKA and AKSUNGUR were test flying, MMU was starting the engine, HÜRJET was getting ready for the first taxi, and ANKA-III was being taken to engine tests!…"

"I would love to be able to explain what I feel, but right now, I am under the attack of very intense and strong emotions, like all TAI employees!"

"Like all TAI members, who have been working hard with determination, by not abandoning the ship, never giving up, seeing all difficulties as attractive, despite the unbelievers who have been saying that these planes cannot be built for years!"

"By the way, it took a while for ANKA-III, whose photo we shared, to come to your attention due to the difficulties in its production with its delta wing geometry, which does not have a vertical surface, but I want you to know that this appearance contains technological secrets that will give it an edge over all its competitors.
"Secret" for now..."

- Murat Özpala CAT-1 test pilot of Hürkuş

A summary:

sequ said:

Knowing the width of the forward center fuselage (5m), the wingspan of the TF-X is 14m as given by Tusas. In MSpaint the wingspan came in at 1400 pixels and the forward center fuselage at 501 pixels width (very convenient indeed!). The height is a bit difficult to measure because of the distance from the camera.

View attachment 109359

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I just noticed one other unique aspect of TF-X's design:

The vertical slabs are mounted directly on top of the engine nacelles. As a result the root of the vertical slabs appear thicker than those of other fifth gen fighter aircraft because additional space is needed to house the control surface actuators. I think something similar is happening with the elevators, as you can see the bumps at the rear of the wing root.

The actuator housing for the flaps are the smallest I've seen in any fifth gen fighter that actually use them (I think F-35/J-35, which only has one flap on each wing, incorporates those within the fuselage). Not sure if that's due to the camera angle or wing thickness though. There is a slight wing-twist on the wings but it is not as pronounced as it is in the F-22.

After studying the aircraft based on the latest high def photos I've reached the following conclusions:

1) The primary purpose of the plane is air superiority. It will be capable of precision strike but that would not be its primary purpose.
2) Aspect ratio/length indicates that there is high emphasis on high speed performance. With the right engines it will not only be supercruise capable but have very good supersonic maneuverability as well.
3) Radar nose cone is very large and could potentially house a very powerful AESA.
4) Special attention to detail is given to RCS reduction. Surfaces such as weapons bay, landing gear cover, radome cover, etc. are given sawtooth treatment. Any optical senor housing is faceted to reduce signature. We do not see this level of detail on current KF-X or Su-57. Once the appropriate engine is installed rear RCS could be optimized as well.

siegecrossbow said:

1) The primary purpose of the plane is air superiority. It will be capable of precision strike but that would not be its primary purpose.

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That was expected. Turkey has a lot of other assets that can provide heavy firepower against ground-based assets. Helicopters, drones, F-16s, various artillery and missile assets etc... The sinking category of capabilities was air-to-air capabilities. Air-to-air warfare is very tech intensive and specific. Even an obsolete air-to-air platform can easily become a potent air-to-ground asset. Recently the discrepancy between air-to-ground and air-to-air grew so much that most prominent Turkish defense industry journalists don't even talk about A2G while discussing fighter jets. Mechanical scanning radars and AIM-120B (There are less than 150 modern AMRAAM variants in the inventory) simply don't cut it in 2023.

siegecrossbow said:

I just noticed one other unique aspect of TF-X's design:

The vertical slabs are mounted directly on top of the engine nacelles. As a result the root of the vertical slabs appear thicker than those of other fifth gen fighter aircraft because additional space is needed to house the control surface actuators. I think something similar is happening with the elevators, as you can see the bumps at the rear of the wing root.

The actuator housing for the flaps are the smallest I've seen in any fifth gen fighter that actually use them (I think F-35/J-35, which only has one flap on each wing, incorporates those within the fuselage). Not sure if that's due to the camera angle or wing thickness though. There is a slight wing-twist on the wings but it is not as pronounced as it is in the F-22.

After studying the aircraft based on the latest high def photos I've reached the following conclusions:

1) The primary purpose of the plane is air superiority. It will be capable of precision strike but that would not be its primary purpose.
2) Aspect ratio/length indicates that there is high emphasis on high speed performance. With the right engines it will not only be supercruise capable but have very good supersonic maneuverability as well.
3) Radar nose cone is very large and could potentially house a very powerful AESA.
4) Special attention to detail is given to RCS reduction. Surfaces such as weapons bay, landing gear cover, radome cover, etc. are given sawtooth treatment. Any optical senor housing is faceted to reduce signature. We do not see this level of detail on current KF-X or Su-57. Once the appropriate engine is installed rear RCS could be optimized as well.

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You've summarized my more "advanced" thoughts about the aircraft very well. The only thing I would like to add which isn't directly apparent by the footage released thus far is the size of the horizontal stabilizers/elevators, which are as large as an F-16 wing, which in turn gives the aircraft a high pitch rate. IIRC the F-22 also has F-16 wing sized horizontal stabilizers/elevators.

"The Horizontal Stabilizers of the plane, which is as big as the wing of an F-16, are 2.9m wide, 4.1m long, 0.4m high, and weigh 235kg."
- DefenceTurkey Magazine Issue 120.

BoraTas said:

Mechanical scanning radars and AIM-120B (There are less than 150 modern AMRAAM variants in the inventory) simply don't cut it in 2023.

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Turkey received 484 AIM-120B and 252 AIM-120C7

sequ said:

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Although the image quality is bad, it's a beautiful angle. Vaguely reminds me of the YF-23 shape.

sequ said:

You've summarized my more "advanced" thoughts about the aircraft very well. The only thing I would like to add which isn't directly apparent by the footage released thus far is the size of the horizontal stabilizers/elevators, which are as large as an F-16 wing, which in turn gives the aircraft a high pitch rate. IIRC the F-22 also has F-16 wing sized horizontal stabilizers/elevators.

"The Horizontal Stabilizers of the plane, which is as big as the wing of an F-16, are 2.9m wide, 4.1m long, 0.4m high, and weigh 235kg."
- DefenceTurkey Magazine Issue 120.

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This further proves that supersonic maneuverability and performance is a major design requisite. The faster the plane goes and especially at higher altitude where air is thinner, control surfaces become less responsive. Larger control surfaces will be crucial for mitigating the issue.

Higher quality image:

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan inaugurated Turkey's first boron carbide production facility in Bandırma, Balıkesir.