Making statements about Turkey's National Combat aircraft, which is expected to land in the field in 2023, Defense Industry President İsmail Demir stated that steps have been taken for an alternative and domestic engine for the MMU.
Explaining that they are working on the use of an alternative engine for the F110 engines to be used in the first prototype of the MMU, İsmail Demir stated that the alternative engine will protect the project against negative surprises and that it can power 2 prototypes until the domestic engine arrives. As it is known for the prototype stage of the MMU, F16 turbofan engines, which are also used in F-110 warplanes, will be used.
Regarding the development of the domestic engine, İsmail Demir underlined that sufficient financing could not be provided for 2 different domestic engine projects and that all contractors (TRMotor, Rolls-Royce, Kale, Pratt & Whitney and TEI) should be gathered under a single project. He mentioned that Rolls-Royce had hesitations about working with TRMotor before, but this is not the case at the moment and if this trend continues, TRMotor may work in partnership with Rolls-Royce.
Similar to Turkey's alternative engine approach for MMU can be observed in AKINCI TİHA. While the Ukrainian-origin AI-450 turboprop engines were used in prototypes and the first batch of mass production, AKINCI-B, which uses a 750 hp engine, made its first flight recently. In this way, an alternative was created for AKINCI against a negative development in terms of engine supply from Ukraine, such as the Russia-Ukraine war.
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