I really hope the Turkish engine industry becomes a major player. It would break the Western/European monopoly and bring down costs as competition increases.
Chinese Civil and military engines were supposed to do that, but due to various reasons they haven't had the desired effect.
Work on the civil aviation industries continues in two clusters. The first is the segment extending from 2-4 seater sports aircraft to 8-10 seater business jets. This segment has started to receive significant investments through private enterprises. There are several different companies, the most important of which I see is BMH Aviation, which bought SyberJet. Sj30 aircraft in the hands of Syberjet, BMH plans to establish the first production line in TR as soon as possible without wasting time with the first platform development and certification process. I have a detailed post on this subject in the other forum. The production planning is largely ready and the company's roadmap is quite exciting.
There are more than 50-60 companies in TR with world-class production standards and certificates, which are sub-suppliers of all the western aviation giants you can think of, especially the OSTIM OSSA ecosystem in TR. From Boeing to Airbus, even mid-level players like KAI etc. Whatever company you can think of, there is definitely a supplier here. All types of structures, subsystems, cabin equipment, avionics, electronics, engineering services, we have very valuable companies that have proven themselves in the world in every field. In other words, the aviation industry infrastructure in Turkiye is ready enough to enter the branding process. The problem was to bring these elements together and create a unity of forces in Turkiye. Now we are gradually moving to this phase.
The other part is the narrow-body regional commercial passenger and general purpose aircraft, and as far as we can understand, there is a healthier process on this side, unlike the previous failed project attempts. Kayseri TOMTAŞ, Turkiye's first aircraft factory, is being re-established. Over 200 aircraft had been produced in this factory until 1931, but after a while the company was closed down 'for some reasons'. It was also announced by the GM that a narrow-body passenger aircraft project by TAI was progressing through indigenous design. The general opinion is that the revitalisation of the TOMTAŞ factory is related to this planning. I also believe that the serial production of this TAI project will be realised at TOMTAŞ.
The reason for writing these is to draw a general framework of what is going on in the Turkish aviation industry, apart from showcase/military projects for fixed wing aircraft. In the long term, the efforts in the current military projects in the field of engines must also be reflected in civilian areas. If we consider all systems cumulatively in these fighter aircraft projects until the 2030s, and together with sub-suppliers, you will have a total workforce of over 50-60 thousand in more than 100 companies. And you will have a large capacity. Although some of this belongs to production functions, the most important part is related to design, test and verification processes. You have to feed this. In short, military projects create a positive factor to speed up the processes due to the size of the TAF's needs and export advantages. However, for continuity, the civilian area should be entered, which I think was already the main plan.
