Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the success of the first flight of the Turkish KAAN fighter as “another pride and achievement for the Turkish defense industries.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his happiness at the success of the first flight of the Turkish KAAN fighter on Wednesday morning, describing the event as “another pride and achievement for the Turkish defense industries.”
Erdogan said during a press conference in the city of Afyonkarahisar that with the completion of this process, "Turkey will have passed another very influential stage in the production of fighter jets for the Fifth Army."
The Turkish President refuted doubts about the manufacture of the plane, saying: “Despite those who tried to sabotage the KAAN project from the first moment, and said that we would not be able to manufacture this plane, our national fighter planes, thank God, flew in the sky today.”
Erdogan concluded by saying that his country "will focus on quickly completing other tests of KAAN, which will inspire confidence in friends and fear in enemies."
On Wednesday, the Turkish national fighter "Kaan" (KAAN) successfully carried out its first flight after completing the necessary preparations.
The fifth-generation Qan fighter can perform air-to-air combat missions and carry out precise strikes from internal weapons bays at speeds exceeding the speed of sound.
Thus, Turkey becomes one of 5 countries that can produce aircraft of this level, as it has the ability to work jointly with drones and air warning and control platforms.
"A valuable catch" How did the Houthis shoot down the latest American drones from the Yemeni sky?
In a remarkable development, the Houthis announced, on Monday, the downing of an American MQ-9 Reaper spy plane near the coastal city of Hodeidah in western Yemen.
In light of the US-led military operation against the Houthis in Yemen, the group not only continued to target and sink Israeli ships, as well as American and British ships, but also expanded the scope of its attacks to target American drones flying over and near Yemeni territory as well.
In a remarkable development, the Houthis announced, on Monday, the downing of an American MQ-9 Reaper spy plane near the coastal city of Hodeidah in western Yemen. This was confirmed by two American officials when they said that the Pentagon was investigating the cause of the crash of an American military reconnaissance drone off the coast of Yemen on Monday morning, according to what was reported by the New York Times .
The Houthis' targeting of the latest models of American drones is not considered a new event. Last November, the group announced the downing of an American MQ-9 spy drone in the territorial waters of Yemen. She said at the time, “It was shot down, with God’s help, with the appropriate weapon,” without specifying the type of weapon used.
Great catch
The Pentagon acknowledged the crash of its MQ 9 drone in Yemen, saying that indications were that it was "shot down by a Houthi surface-to-air missile."
The Pentagon said in a statement on Tuesday evening that the Houthis "possess a large stock of military means and we are working to reduce them."
For its part, Reuters quoted American officials as saying that information confirms that the American march near the Yemeni province of Hodeidah was hit by a "surface-to-air" missile launched by the Houthis.
While the military spokesman for the Houthis, Yahya Saree, said in a press statement, “The Yemeni air defenses were able to shoot down an American MQ-9 plane with a suitable missile while it was carrying out hostile missions against our country on behalf of the Zionist entity.”
The MQ-9 Reaper, which has a wingspan of 66 feet and costs about $32 million, is considered the primary attack drone for the US Air Force, due to its possession of very advanced monitoring and sensing technology and the ability to fly for a long time at an altitude higher than 15 kilometers.
The Air Force says the Reaper drones are used primarily for intelligence gathering, but they can also be armed with up to eight laser-guided Hellfire missiles.
New escalation
The downing of the drone, which is the mainstay of the US Army's air surveillance fleet, is another escalation in the conflict between the United States and the Houthi group in Yemen and the Red Sea. The United States bombed five Houthi military targets, including an undersea drone, in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Saturday, according to a statement issued by the military's Central Command, according to the New York Times .
The statement said that it is believed that the use of underwater drones is the first time that the Houthis have used such a weapon since they began their campaign against ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden on October 23.
While the United States accuses Iran of providing the Houthis with military supplies and technology, US officials also acknowledge that Tehran has no direct control over the Houthis or a number of other Iranian-backed armed groups in Iraq and Syria.
Advanced weapons in possession of the Houthis
The Houthis' arsenal has grown in size and diversity since 2014. Arms experts say the Houthis possess long-range ballistic missiles, smaller cruise missiles and suicide drones, all of which are capable of reaching southern Israel, as well as drone boats and submarines.
In addition to the offensive ballistic, air and naval arsenal that they possess, the Houthis also possess an advanced defensive missile system that comes in two versions: “Barq-1” and “Barq-2”. This system is considered an improved version of the Iranian “Sayyad” surface-to-air missiles, which is capable To carry infrared explosive warheads and active or semi-active radar.
It is also believed that the Houthis currently possess advanced radar systems capable of receiving and decoding ADS-B signals that are used to control the air traffic of aircraft, enabling them to reveal the location, speed, altitude, and other information.