Simply months after US President Donald Trump greenlit the long-sought sale of F-35 stealth fighters to Saudi Arabia, Riyadh is now reportedly contemplating investing in Turkey’s homegrown fifth-generation fighter, the KAAN.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan informed reporters on February 5 that Saudi Arabia and Turkey are poised to extend their defence {industry} cooperation, including that KAAN had been praised by Saudi Arabia.
“We now have acquired a variety of optimistic suggestions on Kaan. There’s a joint funding with Saudi Arabia on this space, and we are able to implement this partnership at any second,” Erdoğan was quoted as saying by Turkish media.
Erdoğan emphasised that Ankara and Riyadh had inked “main” military-industry cooperation offers and that Turkey was decided to develop that cooperation.
“We now have deep-rooted relations with Saudi Arabia which have cultural and historic dimensions. We signed vital agreements throughout this go to to additional develop these relations,” the Turkish President mentioned. ”The progress our nation has made within the area of defence {industry} is being adopted with curiosity by Saudi Arabia, as it’s by the entire world,” he added.
“We’re primarily targeted on assembly our personal wants within the defence {industry}. As well as, we additionally attempt to satisfy the wants of our buddies and brothers. We’re signing vital cooperation agreements with Saudi Arabia within the area of defence {industry}, and we’re decided to develop this additional,” the President mentioned, with out revealing the specifics of a possible deal or how a lot Riyadh was planning to take a position.
“KAAN isn’t just a fighter jet. KAAN is an emblem of Türkiye’s engineering capabilities and impartial defence will,” Erdogan asserted on his flight again from Cairo. “We now have acquired a lot complimentary suggestions about Kaan. As we turn into extra influential on this area globally, these sorts of collaborations will definitely enhance.”
Experiences of Saudi Arabia’s curiosity in KAAN initially emerged in 2024, when the Kingdom was reportedly weighing buying no less than 100 KAAN fighter jets.
This was adopted by a gathering between Turkish and Saudi defence officers, together with Saudi Air Pressure Commander Turki bin Bandar Al Saud, Saudi Deputy Minister of Defence Khaled Bin Hussein Al Biyari, and head of the Presidency of Turkish Defence Industries Haluk Gorgun, as beforehand reported by the EurAsian Instances.
On the time, analysts mentioned that the 2 sides have been constructing on the prevailing defence relationship, similar to Saudi Arabia’s buy of the Akinci drones.
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“Saudi Arabia might search joint manufacturing and know-how switch for the KAAN, much like the association made for the Bayraktar Akinci UCAV,” native Turkish publication Türkiye At the moment reported on the time.
In February 2025, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) CEO Mehmet Demiroglu mentioned somewhat overtly that Saudi Arabia and Turkey have been working carefully on KAAN and that the undertaking might ultimately embrace different international companions, such because the United Arab Emirates.
On the time, Saudi Arabia was trying to improve its air pressure with fifth-generation plane amid US reluctance to promote the F-35 to Riyadh.
It’s noteworthy that the KAAN was developed, no less than partly, as a response to Turkey’s exclusion from the US F-35 program, successfully serving as an indigenous various to the US jet.
The Turkish officers and defence sources describe it as filling the hole left by its expulsion from the F-35 program, with ambitions to match or exceed facets of the American stealth fighter.
Although envisioned as an air-superiority fighter, specialists consider that the KAAN has advanced right into a multi-role fighter.
“The F-35 carries six tons of ammunition; this one carries 10 tons. It has two engines in comparison with the F-35’s single engine. Having two engines means extra vitality and radars illuminating a better distance,” mentioned Temel Kotil, the Turkish Aerospace Industries’ common supervisor, whereas making a case for Kaan being superior to the F-35.
“We are going to ship 20 KAAN plane within the yr 2028. We’ll ship many extra between 2030 and 2033, and the Turkish fleet will comprise a whole bunch of KAAN plane.”
In actual fact, Turkey itself has continued to push for the F-35 regardless of the event of KAAN.
Final month, as an example, President Erdoğan reaffirmed that the expulsion of Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet program was “unjust,” emphasising that NATO safety is determined by its induction to this system.
Donald Trump has additionally reportedly said that the US was “very critically” contemplating the sale of F-35 jets to Ankara.
Saudi Arabia To Get F-35
Saudi Arabia lastly acquired approval from US President Donald Trump to buy F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters in November 2025 after the 2 sides signed a “historic strategic defence settlement” throughout a go to by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Washington, DC.
The US President didn’t reveal the variety of jets that will probably be bought, however earlier stories recommended that Riyadh had formally requested 48 F-35 fighters. There’s hypothesis that the variety of jets may very well be diminished to 2 squadrons, or 24 plane.
Notably, Trump authorised the acquisition regardless of robust opposition from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), which has been involved that the supply of those superior stealth fighters might weaken its Qualitative Army Edge (QME) within the Center East.
The US has a long-standing settlement with Israel, which stipulates that US weapons equipped to Israel needs to be “superior in functionality” in comparison with these bought to others in West Asia. Israel has opposed the sale of F-35 to each Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
In actual fact, some officers and defence specialists informed Reuters earlier that the US may promote a downgraded variant of the F-35 to Saudi Arabia to handle Israel’s issues and strengthen ties with Riyadh on the similar time.
The character of the downgrade is unknown and has not been admitted formally by both nation. Nonetheless, analysts mentioned Saudi F-35s may very well be made technologically inferior to Israeli jets based mostly on the software program bundle commissioned for the jet.
The F-35’s software program governs sensor fusion, information sharing, and mission planning, and the US can combine the Saudi F-35s with a much less succesful baseline configuration, limiting entry to full-spectrum updates, AI-driven focusing on, and network-centric instruments that Israel enjoys.
The EurAsian Instances couldn’t independently confirm these claims.
The US lately authorised the potential sale of Patriot air defence missiles value roughly $9 billion to Saudi Arabia amid rising tensions between the US and Iran within the area. Nonetheless, there’s nonetheless no phrase on when a deal for the F-35 will probably be signed, and what number of plane the dominion will buy.
