What should be the name of the National Combat Aircraft (MMU/TF-X)?
The name Kaan, which was given at the inauguration ceremony held on May 1, 2023, will be added after the two digits, and a correct and accurate decision will be made by choosing the name of our National Combat Aircraft as "TF-23 Kaan".
It was announced that our National Combat Aircraft MMU/TF-X was named KAAN at the roll-out ceremony held at the Mürted-TUSAŞ facilities on May 1, 2023. What should be the most appropriate name for our National Combat Aircraft to be registered in international standards, including the name Kaan?
1) Our National Combat Aircraft should be registered with a name in the format that has become the rule for combat aircraft in world military aviation. As the name of the MMU, it is considered to be a correct and appropriate option to include the first letter "T", which stands for Turkey, the letter "F", which is used in the international aviation literature for combat aircraft, and the two numbers to be given after a hyphen and the name Kaan written after those numbers. The choice of 23 as the two digits to be given after the letters TF- will be of great significance. The number 23 will represent the last two digits of the year 2023, the 100th anniversary of the founding of our Republic. The name Kaan, which was given at the inauguration ceremony held on May 1, 2023, will be added after the two digits, and a correct and accurate decision will be made by choosing the name of our National Combat Aircraft as "TF-23 Kaan".
2) When we look at the registered names of fighter jet aircraft around the world, it will be seen that the name TF-23 Kaan is compatible with similar fighter aircraft around the world. An example of such a practice is South Korea's naming of its fighter jet aircraft "KF-21 Boramae", which left the hangar in 2021.
The letter "K" stands for Korea, the letter "F" stands for Fighter, the number 21 is the last two digits of the date of the aircraft's exit from the hangar, and it is named Boramea (Born in Korean).
All combat aircraft in the world (with a few exceptions) are not named with a single name, but with a letter and two numbers (such as "F" for fighter aircraft, "C" for transport aircraft) indicating the mission function of the aircraft. Examples of fighter aircraft names are F-86 Sabre, F-15 Eagle, F-104 Starfighter, F-22 Raptor, F-4 Phantom, F-18 Hornet, J-20 Chengdu, J-31 Shenyang, MIG-31 Foxhound, SU-57 Felon.
3) During the hangar exit ceremony of our National Combat Aircraft, it was noteworthy that all four letters of the word KAAN were capitalized. As is known, all capitalized words are abbreviations taken from the initials of words with different meanings.
Examples of such abbreviations are TBMM, TDK, DHMI, SHGM, THY, TAI, TEI, IHA, SIHA. However, the word Kaan is not abbreviated from the initials of four different words; it is a one-word "proper name" and according to the rules of grammar, the first letter should be capitalized and the other letters should be lowercase.
If it is decided to write the name Kaan in the "proper name" format, a beautiful, elegant and aesthetically pleasing name with the first letter capitalized and the other three letters lowercase can be prepared by calligraphy and calligraphy artists and written on the fuselage of our National Fighter Aircraft.
