The Framework Agreement on the Engine Development of the TF-X Fighter Jet Program was signed between the Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB) and TR Motor on November 8th at the premises of the Presidency of Defence Industries with the participation of President of Defence Industries Prof. İsmail DEMİR, Major General Reha Ufuk Er from the General Staff Plans and Policies Department - Chief of Project Development and Resource Management Department, Vice President of Defence Industries Dr. Celal Sami TÜFEKÇİ, Vice President of Defence Industries Serdar DEMİREL, TR Motor General Manager Osman DUR, Turkish Aerospace President & CEO Temel KOTİL and many representatives from the defence industry.

On behalf of the Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB), Head of the Department of Engine and Power Transmission Systems Yakup ERTAŞ made a brief presentation prior to the signing ceremony. Stating that their activities for fulfilling the requests for the engine that would be powering the platform as part of the TF-X Fighter Jet development program through national resources to the maximum extent continued, ERTAŞ summarized the envisaged activities as follows: “Within the content of the activities conducted to this end, establishment of engine test infrastructure, development of design and test software, development of the turbofan jet engine fulfilling the operational requirements of the platform and performing the all tests, their modification over the platform, our Presidency’s ownership of all types of intellectual and property rights and our country’s ownership of the rights of use of the acquired technologies in other projects are aimed.”

Stating that a twin-engine platform was decided upon within the scope of the T-FX Fighter Jet development project launched in January 2015, ERTAŞ continued, “An initial agreement was signed between Turkish Aerospace and TR Motor A.Ş. for the review of the development program. And today, we are gathered here to sign the framework agreement of this development program between the SSB and TR Motor A.Ş. Within the scope of this program we are aiming to cultivate qualified human resources, develop labor through national resources, establish the infrastructure of the technical identification of the know-how and infrastructure in this technology in Turkey. In addition is the acquisition of the material infrastructure or the technological information of the utilized material.  These are among the most critical issues in these types of high technology products in order to monitor the performance capabilities of the products we manufactured.”

TR Motor General Manager Osman DUR said, “The outputs of the indigenous development programs launched by Turkey are being closely followed by the public, both local and foreign. The F-X Fighter Jet project which is one of the important steps of our critical projects recently has initiated and is at full speed. Today we will be signing the engine of our unique Fighter Jet - the development program of the Unique Fighter Jet Engine and the framework agreement. We hope to complete the preparations in terms of the human resources and infrastructure required to achieve these projects as soon as possible. I wish that this project brings good luck to all of us and to our country.”

President of Defence Industries Prof. İsmail DEMİR underlined the following points in his speech: “We gathered here today to launch a critical milestone of one of our very ambitious projects - the 5th generation fighter jet development project. Turkey has been conducting versatile projects on the indigenous development of the engines in various platforms, regarding the power systems. In respect to the final engine, we aim for an indigenous engine for our Indigenous Fighter Jet. In order to accomplish  this goal, for developing an utterly unique engine we established our company - TR Motor and this establishment launched its activities about 7 months ago. At this point, we aim to have a national and unique final engine and as our final objectives we attach priority to the following points. First of all, there should be no license restrictions over our engine at all; we should entirely have comprehensive knowledge of all the technological components in terms of technology and develop them indigenously. All intellectual property rights should be owned by our state. Surely there are certain issues that we need to make progress on in this process. We will have versatile activities in order to solve a series of issues ranging from material technologies, thermodynamics and aerodynamics to various integration problems. We will try to utilize all existing capabilities in our country throughout these activities. There is a potential, a probability of the involvement of companies with Joint Ventures or foreign partners who perform in our country as well. However, the essential factor at this point is that each technology developed should be absolutely monopolized by our government and there should be no license restrictions over this product. We do not envisage to conclude this program in a short span of time. As you may know, we recently started to work on these areas and we need to cover a great distance. At this point, we are speaking of a period of nearly 10 years for unique development. The content of today’s agreement should be understood as the identification of the main parameters of the engine, determination of the design components and launching the journey towards the indigenous engine and the drawing of its framework within the process regarding the identification of the engine’s framework and the integration of the engine that Turkish Aerospace selected as the main contractor for the development of the aircraft. On the other hand, the public opinion is interested in the activities of the international OEM companies in Turkey, they have some suggestions in supporting these activities. Our doors are not closed to them. When the duration of the process for the totally unique engine development is taken into consideration, the offers made by various OEM’s for supporting this project are currently being elaborated upon by us. We clearly set forth our red lines and our objectives here. Without doubt, our doors are also open to potential activities and cooperation intending to support us during our project in terms of mid products. These are being negotiated and discussed as separate items. Therefore, we attach great importance to this solid step taken here today, this agreement. Upon this signature, we are launching the process for the development of a unique turbofan jet engine for our fighter jet. I wish for all the best and good luck.”

Following the speeches, the framework agreement was signed by the parties.

Within the context of the program to be carried out under the leadership of the SSB; gaining of many capabilities and technologies that may serve various projects and programs is aimed, while the design, development and test infrastructures of the turbofan engine are being established. As part of the engine development of TF-X Fighter Jet Development Program, the engine, critical sub systems and components are aimed to be developed through local resources.