Kotil met with journalists and publishers before IDEF. Answering TurDef’s question about the TF-X timeline and expectations about CDR, Kotil said, “Our aircraft will fly in 2023, but it is not the first (TF-X program) aircraft to fly. We’re going to build two more planes. It will be our first bloc in 2023. Its geometry is being studied; it is constantly changing; it will always change.

On the one hand, PDR continues; on the other hand, we are making aeroplanes. In this period, aircraft manufacturer companies make their planes slowly. We know that the same companies built planes very fast during the Cold War, which we are doing right now. We do not follow the classical methodology. We are starting to build the plane right now. We take care that the geometry and force paths are correct because they are irreversible. Hydraulic, pneumatic systems, fuel systems have to be correct because there is no return. The Tübitak BİLGEM has been working on the APU for two years.”