Türkiye Unifies Aeroengine Development Under One Roof

Türkiye's Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB) is consolidating its indigenous aeroengine development programs under a single new entity of TEI TEKNOLOJİ.

TEI TEKNOLOJİ, the repositioned and retitled successor to TRMOTOR, separating next-generation engine research and development from the production and international work that will remain with the established TUSAŞ Engine Industries (TEI).

The move centralizes two of Türkiye's most strategically sensitive programs, the TF35000 fighter-class turbofan for the TAI KAAN fifth-generation aircraft and the TS3000 turboshaft for the ATAK-II heavy attack helicopter, under a single development umbrella.

The move aims at concentrating scarce high-end engineering talent, improving project management, and accelerating timelines toward propulsion independence.

What Moves, What Stays

TEI TEKNOLOJİ takes over Türkiye's most advanced engine programs, led by two flagship efforts.

The first is the TF35000 turbofan, targeting approximately 35,000 pounds-force of thrust and developed for the KAAN fifth-generation fighter; the second is the TS3000 turboshaft, targeting approximately 3,000 shaft horsepower, which will power both the ATAK-II heavy attack helicopter and the planned T925 10-ton utility helicopter.

Auxiliary power unit programs including the APU-60 for KAAN integration and materials development covering domestic superalloys, single-crystal turbine blades, thermal barrier coatings, and titanium alloys also transfer to the new entity.

Engineering teams previously working on TF35000 and TS3000 at TEI will continue under TEI TEKNOLOJİ to preserve institutional knowledge.

Remaining under TEI are the TS1400 turboshaft, powering the GÖKBEY utility helicopter, the PD170 diesel engine for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) such as ANKA and AKSUNGUR, all production and delivery operations, and TEI's extensive international partnerships.

Most critically, TEI's long-standing collaboration with GE Aerospace for supplying components for programs including LEAP, GEnx, and GE9X across more than 50 programs globally is explicitly unaffected.

TF35000 and KAAN: The Flagship Timeline

The TF35000 is Türkiye's most ambitious propulsion program.

A development framework between TRMOTOR and SSB originated in 2018, with closer TEI collaboration added subsequently.

The engine's design was first publicly shown in May 2025. It targets fifth-generation requirements, high-temperature superalloys, advanced cooling architectures, low-signature characteristics, and supercruise potential.

A Critical Design Review was reported earlier this year, with ground testing referenced in the 2026 timeframe.

Early production KAAN aircraft will continue flying on General Electric F110-GE-129 engines, a large U.S. sale was approved to cover initial production needs with indigenous-engine integration in later KAAN blocks currently cited around 2032-2033.

The consolidation under TEI TEKNOLOJİ is framed as an organizational measure to accelerate that timeline rather than alter it.

The Propulsion Independence Strategy

The restructuring fits a broader and explicitly stated Turkish industrial policy: building a full domestic propulsion ladder from UAV-class diesel engines at the bottom through helicopter turboshafts and smaller turbofans to fighter-class powerplants at the top, supported by indigenous materials at every level.

TRMOTOR was established in 2017 specifically to advance indigenous gas-turbine development; its repositioning as TEI TEKNOLOJİ after 9 years represents a maturation of that effort into a dedicated, SSB-coordinated development entity.

The separation of R&D from production is a standard organizational model in advanced aerospace industries.

It insulates the high-risk, long-cycle development work from the commercial and operational pressures of a production business.

For Türkiye, the geopolitical motivation is also explicit: export controls and platform-specific restrictions on foreign engines for the KAAN, ATAK-II, and other critical platforms make domestic propulsion a strategic necessity rather than merely an industrial ambition.

SSB holds intellectual property rights for the main engine programs moving to TEI TEKNOLOJİ.