Clearer imagery: a test aircraft appears in an anniversary video
The HAVA SOJ — Turkey’s airborne standoff jammer built on Bombardier Global 6000 airframes — makes its clearest public appearance yet in a video released June 1, 2026 on the official X account of the Turkish Ministry of Defense marking the 115th anniversary of the Turkish Air Force. The clip shows an unpainted aircraft with external fairings and antennas, a trailing cable from the top of the vertical stabilizer consistent with a flight-test trailing cone, and an air-data probe fitted to the nose. The jet appears at roughly the 1:39 mark of the video.
Those images follow earlier sightings: two examples were visible on flight-tracking websites after sorties on February 20, 2026, and a poor-quality image was recorded during a March 1 test flight out of the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) facility in Ankara.
Airframe, sensors and antenna features visible in the footage
The public footage and associated photography highlight several physical features tied to the HAVA SOJ’s intended missions. Large fuselage sensor fairings house much of the mission equipment, two ventral canoe-like fairings sit beneath the fuselage, and two dorsal SATCOM enclosures are mounted along the spine. The SATCOM domes would permit near-real-time distribution of collected data, the SSB materials note.
The program’s imagery and vendor graphics link the mission electronics to Aselsan’s land-based Koral/Kara SOJ family, and the HAVA SOJ is reported to include electronic support measures (ESM) for detection and geolocation, plus jamming and deception equipment. The HAVA SOJ is also described as likely to use active electronically scanned array (AESA) antennas analogous to land-based Koral/Kara arrays, enabling focused beams for jamming or spoofing and fast scanning across multiple emitters.
Wingtip pods visible on the aircraft resemble pods used for receiver/ESM functions on other platforms, and the canoe fairings under the fuselage are similar in form to housings that have held synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indicator (SAR/GMTI) sensors on other Global Express–based platforms. The program’s materials also reference possible onboard radar capability, while acknowledging that definitive public confirmation of some sensors is not available.
Industrial roles, program timeline, and equipment pedigree
TAI is integrating mission payloads developed by Aselsan into Canadian-made Bombardier Global 6000 airframes. The first Global 6000 airframes for the HAVA SOJ program were delivered to TAI in 2019, and four conversions are planned. Aselsan received its contract portion in 2018; the first delivery to the Turkish Air Force had been planned for 2023 but that deadline was missed.
The project follows earlier Turkish efforts to field standoff jamming capabilities, including attempts to adapt Transall C-160 transports and a proposed interim Global Express–based program known as Golge that was terminated in 2017. Early program graphics at times depicted Gulfstream platforms before the Global 6000 configuration was settled.
What this means for the Turkish Air Force, NATO partners, and potential export customers
- Turkish Air Force / SSB: The HAVA SOJ is framed by the SSB as a force multiplier that can create corridors for friendly aircraft by suppressing air defenses, disrupting command-and-control, and degrading adversary communications.
- NATO partners: The aircraft’s ESM and surveillance functions are described as useful for building an electronic order of battle (EOB), making the platform relevant to alliance intelligence collection even in peacetime.
- Potential export customers (Pakistan and Saudi Arabia): Pakistan has been identified as a possible customer in prior reporting, and Aselsan’s joint venture with Saudi Taqnia aims to promote a variant called Kasih. The program materials note that export of the mission suite would not be subject to U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) restrictions.
Survivability concerns and the near-term outlook
While the HAVA SOJ is designed to operate from standoff ranges, the program materials and analysis point to familiar tensions: specialized airborne jammers provide asymmetric effects but raise questions about survivability as integrated air defenses and long-range anti-air capabilities evolve. The aircraft’s increasingly frequent public appearances, the visible test instrumentation (trailing cone, air-data probe), and ongoing ground-based integration work suggest the long-delayed program is moving into a more mature flight-test phase — even as the original 2023 delivery target was missed.
The video’s clear imagery of an unpainted Global 6000 fitted with mission fairings and SATCOM domes makes plain that Turkey is advancing a domestically developed airborne standoff jamming capability built around Aselsan payloads and TAI integration. The remaining open items are the exact sensor and emitter specifications, the operational concepts for survivability against advanced air defenses, and the timetable for delivery and export sales.
Source: Turkey’s Secretive Electronic Warfare Jet Appears In New Imagery — The War Zone
