Turkey’s next-generation fighter, previously known as the TF-X, and now as the TF Kaan, made its first flight yesterday. While the prototype had been delayed getting into the air, based on the previously announced plans, it remains a highly significant milestone for Turkey’s burgeoning military aerospace industry and one that was still achieved in a remarkably compressed timeline. You can read more about Kaan here.
Elsewhere, Australian authorities want to acquire a new class of six optionally crewed ships for the country's Navy as part of a cooperative effort with the U.S. Navy. The plan is for these vessels, each of which will have 32 vertical launch system cells, to provide additional distributed magazine depth at a lower cost to bolster the capabilities of the country's larger surface combatants. This is part of a broader plan to transform and roughly double the size of the Royal Australian Navy's major surface combatant fleets by the 2040s which also includes the acquisition of up to 11 new general-purpose frigates. You can read more about the plans
here. Make sure to check out highlights of all our coverage from the last week below. We are also continuing our rolling coverage of the conflict in Ukraine as it develops. -- Oliver Parken The War Zone |