Aircraft
Turkey’s Hürkuş-B Enters Service, Armed Variant Completes Trials
Turkey's indigenous turoprop trainer is now being used or pilot instruction by the Turkish air force, while the Hürkuş-C armed version nears service entry
Hürkuş-C is the armed variant, seen here with Roketsan L-UMTAS missiles under the wing. (photo: SSB)
Hürkuş-C is the armed variant, seen here with Roketsan L-UMTAS missiles under the wing. (photo: SSB)

Turkey’s indigenous Turkish Aerospace TT32 Hürkuş-B trainer began training Türk Hava Kuvvetleri (THK, Turkish air force) pilots at Çiğli in Izmir province on January 4. The first pair of Hürkuş-B aircraft was delivered to the 2nd Main Jet Base Command at Çiğli—the THK’s main training base—in late December, and the remainder of the 15 aircraft currently on order are due to be delivered to the air force in the first half of 2019. Turkey has options for 40 further Hürkuş-Bs.

The type will re-equip 122 Training Squadron, replacing the KAI KT-1T, though initially they are being used by 124 Instructor, Standardisation and Instrument Training Squadron, with Turkish Aerospace pilot Murat Özpala helping the training effort. The THK bought 40 of the broadly similar KT-1Ts from Korea, of which 35 were assembled locally to replace Cessna T-37s.

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