In the early 2000s, a cartoon in a Turkish humor magazine depicted two defense procurement officials apologetically telling an angry minister of defense that their national tank prototype “had derailed during field tests.” In real life, that tank, the Altay, is still going through field tests. But Turks have a bigger ambition: to build an indigenous fighter jet.

In 2006, Turkey’s defense procurement chief, Murat Bayar, said that Turkey should avoid designing and developing aviation platforms. But in a Nov. 2013 interview with the US weekly Defense News, he said, “Now we have a most challenging program for the local design and production of a warplane featuring stealth, ultrasonic speed, high maneuverability and modern sensors. We know that this will be a difficult task. But we believe that our industry has the capability to develop and fly this aircraft in 15-20 years.”

Insiders silently shake their heads and fear that the whole project may one day remind everyone of the famous quote by a former US ambassador to Ankara, as revealed by Wikileaks, that “Turkey had Rolls Royce ambitions but Rover resources.” But Ankara looks serious about a Turkish fighter jet.

“A feasibility study for the fighter aircraft program includes all aspects including production timetable, costs, risks, sufficiency of the local [defense] industry and international cooperation options,” Bayar told Al-Monitor. “The findings of the feasibility study will be presented to the Defense Industry Executive Committee next year for a final decision.”