US Congress suspends export licences for KAAN fighter engines, imperiling Turkey's indigenous jet program

Turkey's foreign minister says the US Congress has suspended export licences for engines intended for the KAAN stealth fighter, jeopardising Ankara's indigenous jet programme. The move highlights Turkey's dependence on US technology and raises immediate doubts about KAAN's production and flight‑test timetable.

Discovered 2025-09-29T08:12:18.696542-07:00 | 2025-09-29T08:12:18.696542-07:00

Briefing

What Hype is tracking

The suspension directly risks the KAAN programme's schedule just as a second prototype has entered production and the programme moves into an expanded flight‑test phase (recent reporting on the programme's production and flight targets: https://hype.aero/?story=0cdbee95-5cb3-4935-8d51-0f1669e31b21).
It underscores the programme-level vulnerability created by reliance on US-sourced propulsion and components; U.S. engine export controls have already been flagged as a cause of delivery uncertainty for other aircraft programmes (see U.S. engine export controls affecting C919 deliveries: https://hype.aero/?story=4854d3da-a9dd-4fc8-ab29-2652c3eca9e2).
The move has immediate procurement and export implications for partners and customers that have committed to KAAN, including recent government-level purchase decisions that could be affected (context on export interest and commitments: https://hype.aero/?story=3fce9c66-78cb-4c7e-98c6-357b78a0679d).

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