But it won't be unveiled in less than a year. The 'grand' unveiling is planned to take place on 18th march 2023.
18th March 2023 is not next year. And it won't be ready to fly by then only two years later it will be.
You are correct! My fault.
Otherwise I tried once again to put together my concerns and please DON't rate this as if I would wish them to fail:
Again, the main problem with this project is simply IMO that no-one wants to wish Turkey bad luck or anything bad, but that most international, reasonable and well respected analysts all have too many open questions and that so far too few of them are answered.
In return any such critical question, remark or doubt is always alone rated an insult and replied in a most aggressive way.
IMO a forum is exactly the place to exchange opinions, even contradicting ones, to ask open questions and to get answers and explanations. If one expects only expects "whao huu ... the best fighter yet to come!" and nothing more, shall leave a discussion.
So in summary if you look at this program as an outsider we have two side, both as different as they can be:
On the one side - the official one: The TFX/MMU is is a most impressive fighter, a great design and on paper the fighter looks very promising.
On the other side several international analysts and me too have several grave concerns in regard to the overall timeline, budget and especially its engines. This is based on the one side on the "unique social, economic and political situation" in Turkey, which I rate unsecured and even more based on the fact that besides what Turkish sources claim the officially agreed use of F110 engines were so far not announced by either the USA or GE.
This is in strict contrast to any other foreign use of GE engines, be that in India, South Korea and so on and given the latest - to put it mildly - political dispute between the USA and Turkey and the lack of any official US confirmation I am doubtful.
First:
As such my biggest concern are indeed the engines. At least by my understanding (and here I'm open for corrections) it is a fact, that even if a country assembles or manufactures a US engine it cannot simply use it in another product without permission. At least by my understanding, the USA are very strict on this.
So in summary: I would be very much more optimistic if anyone could share not a YouTube-video claiming "it is so" but a credible source telling something about the terms of conditions for GE F110 that Turkey signed. Any bashing down of questions is neither constructive nor helpful.
Even more such nationalistic, stupid claims like "we could even copy it and GE won't even care!" or "if they don't agree, we will go the Russian way!" is not a proof for the agreement to use a TEI built F110. Only the US government - not even GE and surely never TEI - decides on the use of US high end engines. Why alone noting this fact is rated an insult by some is beyond my understanding.
Again, such an agreement is maybe done, but why then does no US source and most of all GE mention this, which is most unusual since GE usually mentioned any use of their engines by a foreign partner?
As such: without any authorisation from the US government, there is NO F110 available for the TFX unless Turkey ignores the US intellectual properties which in return even worse consequences.
Therefore in short: My wish for any discussion on this type would be an honest, open minded and civilised discussion, but without these points of concerns solved (and these are not my concerns alone) all such claims the TFX prototype 01 will be being ready in 2022 and will fly in 2023 is far from assured regardless what some constantly claim.
Second:
Any other alternative like you noted yourself "then we can take a Russian engine" has an even more delaying effect. From what I read, the prototype will use F110 engines and do you really think if TAI must change to a Russian one, this can be done so easily? Even more do you think the Russians will sell their best engines - and nothing less is what Turkey demands - with full ToT?
Third:
Even if the problem for an interim engine MIGHT be solved, what about the serial engine? There are in fact so many contradicting reports about two different Turkish companies developing it, one of them assisted by RR? But again do you think the British will sell their best engines - and again nothing less is what Turkey demands - with full ToT? IMO NEVER!
Even more you are suggesting in your last post an engine in the thrust range of 30000lb... why not even more since it sounds even more impressive!
But can develop RR such an engine - in fact they never did before develop such a high-thrust military engine in recent years within the expected time? Will they then provide full ToT? And how long will it take to get this monster engine ready for serial production? Russia, China and others with far more experience and budget failed and Turkey wants to do it ... I'm sceptical.
Anyway, even if the engine issue for the prototypes is solved, there are still mismatches considering the TF-X's development timeline:
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1.) First is that of TF-X prototype manufacturing. From Turkish sources I read that 5 prototypes in total are to be manufactured in EMD phase. Of these, 2 are to be powered by F110 (hence the 5 F110 engines Turkey allegedly "already ordered and have been delivered/under deliveries") and the rest of those 3 to be powered by Turkish turbofan engine.
The problem is, the Turks are planning to fly the engine for the first time in 2028. TF-X mass production is planned to be 2029. That means, until just 1 year before mass production, those 3 prototypes with Turkish engines are out there with no engine to fly with. In other words, the Turks should carry out their EMD process with just 2 prototypes which is ridiculous.
2.) Secondly, I've got to remember, that during the first bid for the development of the Turkish engine, where two parties, TEI and TAEC consortium participated, TEI have claimed that they could develop an indigenous engine given 14 years time. IIRC this was during 2019 or something like that. TAEC was chosen in that bid but ultimately the whole bid fell through because RR were done with the Turkish demands for IP rights.
Soon enough TR Motor emerged with TAI's share in it. Considering this and the fact that TEI, a TAI subsidiary, is the only company in Turkey that has sizeable gas turbine engine expertise and know-how, it is reasonable to think that the engineers of TR Motor would probably be TEI engineers.
So when this is the case, how come does TR Motor all the sudden claim that they could develop a turbofan engine for TF-X ready for mass production and application until 2029? That is just 10 years from 2019, 4 years shy of what TEI claimed was the necessary timeline to develop such an engine. Considering the fact that outside parties like GE and RR are still not involved in this program, there seems no factor to exist, that would help Turkey shorten their development timeline for a whopping 4 years.
Apart from all these, the plan to develop a 4.5th generation aircraft, the block 1 aircrafts, by 2029 and further develop a full-blown 5th generation aircraft by 2031, the block 2 aircrafts, is rather questionable. What kind of development plan is it, that a 4.5th generation aircraft becomes a 5th gen aircraft within 2 years time?
Well this at least is just my personal thought unlike the questions above which are based on the information given out by no other than the Turkish officials.
Therefore again, I'm open for any decent discussion. I'm more than eager to learn and be corrected. And I will apologise if I'm wrong, but the fact alone that RR helps, there is a 10 Billion $$ budget and that TAI manufactured certain parts for the F135 or the F-16 and F-35 does not mean they are capable to do it on their own. And a huge national ego does not help much ...
But let's start the discussion.
