On the morning of 30 August 2026 — Victory Day, the most patriotic date on the Turkish calendar — a sleek grey jet lifted off, climbed away, and stayed airborne for just 18 minutes. It was a short flight with a long meaning. For the first time, a Hürjet built to full production standard, the very first aircraft destined for operational service with the Turkish Air Force, was in the air.

The Hürjet is not new to flight. A prototype first flew back in April 2023, and two development aircraft have been probing its transonic and supersonic edges ever since. What changed on Sunday is that Turkey crossed the line every ambitious aircraft programme dreams of reaching: from hand-built prototypes to a production aircraft in the configuration real squadrons will fly.

From two prototypes to a production line

Developed by Turkish Aerospace (TUSAŞ/TAI) under the coordination of the Presidency of Defence Industries, the Hürjet programme was launched in 2017. The maiden flight of this first serial aircraft followed the full sequence every new build must pass — final assembly, ground testing and taxi runs — before it was cleared to fly.

The symbolism of the date was not lost on anyone. Victory Day marks the decisive Turkish win at the Battle of Dumlupınar in 1922, and the country’s defence-industry leadership leaned into it hard.

What the Hürjet actually is

Hürjet is a single-engine, tandem-seat, supersonic advanced jet trainer and light combat aircraft. Power comes from a single General Electric F404 afterburning turbofan producing roughly 17,700 pounds of thrust — the same combat-proven engine family that flies the F/A-18 legacy Hornet and the KAI T-50.

The numbers put it firmly in the modern lead-in fighter trainer class: a top speed of Mach 1.4, a service ceiling of 45,000 feet, a published range of about 1,060 nautical miles, stress limits of +8g and -3g, and the ability to carry up to 7,500 pounds of external stores. That last figure is what turns a trainer into a light attacker.

It invites obvious comparison with the Leonardo M-346 and the KAI T-50. The crucial difference: unlike the subsonic M-346, the Hürjet can go supersonic — letting student pilots rehearse the speeds and high-g manoeuvres of a frontline fighter before they ever strap into one.

Deliveries at home, and a first export win

For the Turkish Air Force, the Hürjet is meant to replace the ageing T-38 Talon in the advanced training role, and it has been linked to the eventual retirement of the F-5 jets flown by the Turkish Stars aerobatic team. First deliveries are targeted for the end of 2026, with early aircraft earmarked for the display team.

The jet has already found a buyer abroad. Spain has selected the Hürjet as part of a new combat-training system and plans to acquire 30 aircraft to replace its own F-5 fleet, with Airbus working alongside Turkish Aerospace and deliveries planned from 2028. For a home-grown design that only first flew in 2023, landing a NATO export customer this early is a genuine coup.

A short hop over Anatolia, then, but a telling one. Turkey now has a supersonic jet trainer of its own design rolling off a production line — and a growing habit of turning prototypes into products.

Sources: Turkish Aerospace (TUSAŞ); Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB); Daily Sabah; AeroTime; GE Aerospace.