IN Brief:
- The first two HÜRKUŞ-II aircraft have completed acceptance activity and entered Turkish Air Force inventory.
- The programme covers 55 aircraft, with further deliveries planned through the end of 2028.
- The delivery milestone follows military type certification completed earlier in September after an extensive ground and flight test programme.
Turkish Aerospace has delivered the first two HÜRKUŞ-II basic trainer aircraft to the Turkish Air Force after completing an acceptance programme covering flight performance, avionics, and structural integration.
The deliveries move HÜRKUŞ-II beyond certification and into operational inventory following approximately three weeks of testing and inspection at Turkish Aerospace’s Kahramankazan facilities. The wider programme covers 55 aircraft, with further deliveries planned during 2026 and completion of the current order targeted for the end of 2028.
HÜRKUŞ-II is intended to provide the basic stages of military pilot training before students progress to more advanced aircraft. The turboprop design uses a 1,600 horsepower Pratt & Whitney Canada engine and incorporates a new generation avionics suite, digital training functions, and structural changes intended to reduce weight and improve aerodynamic performance compared with earlier HÜRKUŞ configurations.
Development of the current variant began in 2021 and led to its maiden flight at the end of 2024. Published programme data gives the aircraft a maximum speed of around 320 KCAS and an operating altitude of up to 30,000ft. The larger objective is to place HÜRKUŞ-II inside a domestic training sequence that can take pilots from turboprop instruction towards HÜRJET and, ultimately, frontline combat aircraft.
The first deliveries follow military type certification completed earlier in September. That programme verified 1,790 requirements across 12 technical disciplines, reviewed around 950 items of evidence, and completed 153 laboratory, ground, and flight tests. Certification established the approved configuration against which production aircraft can now be manufactured and accepted.
That transition changes the engineering emphasis. During development, a relatively small number of aircraft can be modified repeatedly as test evidence accumulates. Once serial deliveries begin, design changes have to be introduced through controlled configuration processes so that aircraft, spares, maintenance instructions, and training material remain aligned across an expanding fleet.
Turkish programme information puts the wider HÜRKUŞ-II development effort at around 23,000 hours of laboratory, ground, systems integration, and other testing work. The scale of that effort is significant for a trainer aircraft because certification covers more than basic flying qualities. Avionics behaviour, structural loads, environmental performance, emergency systems, software, and maintainability all feed into the technical baseline used during production acceptance.
Turkish authorities have put domestic content above 70 per cent. Localisation work covers aircraft systems and software as well as communications, identification, hydraulics, cooling, and other equipment. The Pratt & Whitney Canada engine remains imported, illustrating the distinction between substantial domestic engineering control and a completely national supply chain.
That supply structure becomes more important as production increases. Moving from two accepted aircraft towards a fleet of 55 requires repeatable supplier quality, spares provisioning, production planning, and maintenance support rather than simply additional final assembly capacity. Early operational use may also reveal modifications requested by instructors or maintainers, and those changes have to be introduced without allowing the fleet to fragment into several incompatible standards.
Current reporting indicates that another 12 aircraft are planned for delivery during 2026 after the first pair entered inventory, although the programme’s exact year-end count will ultimately depend on completed acceptance activity. The broader direction is clearer than the individual monthly schedule: HÜRKUŞ-II has moved into sustained production and delivery rather than remaining principally a certification programme.
The aircraft also provides Turkish Aerospace with an export reference. Earlier HÜRKUŞ variants have been sold overseas, and an operational Turkish Air Force fleet gives future customers a domestic user against which availability, maintenance performance, training output, and product support can be judged. Regular deliveries at home will therefore carry commercial significance beyond the 55-aircraft national programme.
HÜRKUŞ-II also sits inside a wider Turkish Aerospace fixed wing portfolio that includes HÜRJET and KAAN. The programmes differ greatly in complexity, but engineering methods, supplier management, certification processes, and production experience can transfer between them. HÜRKUŞ-II is the least complex aircraft in that sequence, yet it is the first of the current generation to reach Turkish Air Force inventory.
The programme will now be measured less by prototype milestones than by production performance. Delivery tempo, configuration stability, fleet support, and acceptance through 2027 and 2028 will show how effectively the certification baseline is converted into an operational 55-aircraft training fleet.
