SOURCE: AFI
Pakistan marked a modest milestone in its aerospace ambitions on March 18, 2025, as a scaled-down model of the KAAN fighter jet, named “IQBAL,” completed its first successful flight in Islamabad. Fully designed by a Pakistani team, the model was intended as a collaborative nod to Turkey’s TAI TF KAAN, a fifth-generation stealth fighter under development by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI).
However, the achievement has been met with derision from the Indian defense community, which mocked the IQBAL as a poorly crafted remote-controlled (RC) toy rather than a serious scale representation of an advanced fighter jet.
The IQBAL, unveiled with fanfare by Pakistan’s team in Islamabad, is a small-scale prototype meant to mirror the KAAN’s design—a twin-engine, all-weather stealth aircraft poised to bolster Turkey’s air force by the late 2020s. Posts on X from Pakistani enthusiasts celebrated the flight, emphasizing that the model was “100% designed” locally, with some suggesting collaboration with TAI’s Pakistan-based engineering team. The test flight, conducted earlier today, was hailed as a step toward Pakistan’s long-term goal of developing indigenous fifth-generation fighter capabilities, potentially with Turkish and Chinese support by 2047.
Yet, the euphoria was short-lived as images and videos of the IQBAL surfaced online, drawing sharp criticism from Indian defense analysts and commentators. The model, resembling a small RC aircraft, appeared rudimentary—lacking the sleek lines, aerodynamic finesse, and detailed craftsmanship expected of a scale replica of a next-generation jet. “It looks like a badly made RC plane you’d find in a hobby shop, not a serious attempt at a KAAN variant,” quipped one Indian defense blogger. Others pointed out its disproportionate features and apparent lack of effort to emulate the KAAN’s stealth contours, with one X user joking, “If this is Pakistan’s fifth-gen future, India’s MiG-21s can sleep easy.”
The KAAN itself, Turkey’s flagship aerospace project, boasts advanced stealth, supercruise, and sensor fusion capabilities, with its first flight in February 2023 marking a significant leap for Ankara’s defense industry. Pakistan’s involvement has been peripheral, with aspirations of co-production or technology sharing often cited in bilateral talks. The IQBAL, however, falls far short of such ambitions. Measuring just a few feet in length and powered by a basic electric motor, it lacks the sophistication of even a high-end scale model, let alone a functional prototype. Indian critics seized on this, with some alleging it reflects Pakistan’s broader technological lag in military aviation compared to India’s AMCA program, which is advancing toward a 2032 rollout.
The ridicule underscores a deeper rivalry. India’s defense community often contrasts its indigenous efforts—like the Tejas and AMCA—with Pakistan’s reliance on foreign partners, notably China (JF-17, J-35A) and now Turkey. The IQBAL’s flight, while a symbolic win for Pakistan, has been framed as a misstep in perception—an attempt to project progress that instead exposed limitations. “A scale model should at least look the part,” noted an Indian analyst. “This looks like a school project, not a national endeavor.”
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