Free Republic

KAAN fighter jet prototype in powered taxi tests. Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. ========================================================================================= Turkey’s next-generation KAAN fighter has entered another key phase of development after Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ) began powered taxi tests with the P1 prototype, bringing the stealth aircraft closer to its next flight milestone. Footage released by the company shows the twin-engine jet rolling down the runway under its own power as engineers assess braking, steering, engine response and ground handling. Those evaluations are a standard part of aircraft development and must be completed before a prototype is cleared for flight. The milestone carries added significance because...

The suicide bombs that slaughtered dozens of people in four separate blasts within 45 minutes yesterday took terrorism in Iraq to fresh levels of sophistication and co-ordination. Brig Gen Mark Hertling of the US 1st Armoured Division was clear. "The bombings seem to have been the operations of foreign fighters," he said. "We have not seen attacks we could attribute to foreign fighters before. We have seen them today." While it would be in America's interest to portray terrorist attacks as the work of foreigners bent on undermining stability, the methods used in recent weeks certainly indicate a ruthlessness against...