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Turkey Signs $11 Billion Eurofighter Deal

<span>Turkey Signs $11 Billion Eurofighter Deal</span> <span><span lang="" about="/users/dan-hockensmith" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" content="hockensmithawin">hockensmithawi…</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-10-27T18:19:46+00:00" title="Monday, October 27, 2025 - 18:19">Mon, 10/27/2025 - 18:19</time> </span> <drupal-render-placeholder callback="Drupal\node\NodeViewBuilder::renderLinks" arguments="0=4953711&amp;1=rss&amp;2=en&amp;3=&amp;4" token="rNIVIjY3pMEX9JSayCm2G_2mJVaCfcc7QJ_QMwRnIXU"></drupal-render-placeholder> <div><p>Turkey has signed a long-anticipated £8 billion ($11 billion) deal to acquire Eurofighter Typhoons, the first major export contract for the four-nation combat aircraft since 2017.</p><p>Twenty new-built aircraft will be purchased in the country’s first acquisition of a European combat aircraft after decades of operating new and secondhand U.S.-built fighters.</p><p>But Turkey’s Eurofighter order could more than double in size, according to Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler. He declared that Ankara would also buy another 24 aircraft second hand, 12 each from Oman and Qatar. If those sales go through, Oman would be giving up Eurofighter operations.</p><p>With deliveries of the new-build aircraft not due until 2030, delivering those second-hand aircraft—potentially as early as next year from Qatar, according to Guler—would allow Turkey to accelerate the Eurofighter’s entry into service and enable the retirement of older aircraft from its inventory, including the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom.</p><p>BAE Systems, which will produce the newly built aircraft in Warton, England, says it will receive £5.4 billion of the £8 billion deal. Included in the £5.4 billion are the aircraft and the weapons package from MBDA, including some integration work, potentially for Turkish indigenous weaponry.</p><p>The remaining £2.6 billion is support and training activity, which will be contracted later, BAE Systems officials say. It is unclear whether the deal will ultimately include offsets to enable Turkish industry to become involved in the Eurofighter program and for Turkey to have a level of freedom of action for the fleet. After decades of facing numerous arms embargoes, Turkey often demands the ability to locally perform airframe, system and engine maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) in-country.</p><p>The deal was struck during a meeting between UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara. Starmer said the deal was a win for British workers and the wider UK defense industry. Government officials claim the order is “saving the Warton production line,” after concerns about a lack of new orders for UK-built Typhoons were expressed by workers unions.</p><p>UK industry has a 37% share in the Eurofighter program and production of major component assemblies is being ramped up thanks to orders from the other Eurofighter partner nations including Germany, Italy and Spain.</p><p>“Today’s announcement extends Typhoon production and preserves crucial sovereign skills which underpin the UK’s defense and security,” BAE Systems CEO Charles Woodburn said.</p><p>The deal is another major boost for the UK defense industry, coming just weeks after the UK’s Type 26 frigates were selected by Norway in a £10 billion deal.</p><p>UK Defense Secretary John Healey said the deal went beyond the procurement of aircraft. “It is the leading edge of the growing defense and industrial partnership between our two nations,” he said.</p><p>As part of the visit, Starmer also visited the facilities of Turkish Aerospace Industries, where he was shown the indigenous Kaan combat aircraft. He was also exposed to the Hurjet advanced jet trainer, a potential candidate to replace the BAE Systems Hawk jet trainer in the UK Royal Air Force (RAF) inventory.</p><p>The deal follows three years of negotiations, which have included lobbying of the German government for Berlin to lift a restriction on a Eurofighter sale after Erdoğan’s government arrested Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is seen as a serious presidential rival to Erdoğan in upcoming elections. The administration of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz lifted the sanctions in part because of the benefit to German industry. A memorandum of understanding between the UK and Turkish governments for a Eurofighter sale was agreed to in July.</p><p>Turkey’s interest in the aircraft is driven in part by a need for a more capable air combat platform to be available in the interim until advanced versions of the Kaan aircraft are produced in the 2030s.</p><p>Ankara’s decision to opt for a European fighter, meanwhile, will have been driven by a need to diversify sources of supply after facing sanctions from the U.S. over its purchase of a Russian air defense system and banishment from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.</p><p>The transfer of Omani and Qatari aircraft to Turkey begs questions over the future of additional Eurofighter orders from Qatar, which has long been linked to orders for a further 12 aircraft for a total of 36. Oman, meanwhile, appears to want to consolidate its fighter fleet around the Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 50. In BAE Systems’ 2023 full-year results, the company revealed that the Omani air force had chosen not to renew support arrangements for its Typhoons, and it is unclear how active that fleet now is.</p><p>Buying these additional aircraft would mean Turkey would have a mix of three configurations in its fleet. Qatar’s aircraft have the Mk.0 version of the active electronically scanned array European Common Radar System (ECRS) radar, while Oman’s feature the mechanically scanned Captor sensor.</p><p>In addition to the Eurofighter order, Erdoğan and Starmer also revealed they were working on a new trade and security pact.</p></div> <div> <div>Issue</div> <div> <div><a href="/aerospace-daily-defense-report/2025-10-28" hreflang="en">Aerospace Daily &amp; Defense Report, October 28, 2025</a></div> </div> </div> <div> <div>Article type</div> <div>Article</div> </div> <div> <div>Primary Category</div> <div><a href="/taxonomy/term/336" hreflang="en">Aircraft &amp; Propulsion</a></div> </div> <div> <div>Author</div> <div> <div><a href="/author/tony-osborne" hreflang="en">Tony Osborne</a></div> </div> </div> <div> <div>Content source</div> <div> <div><a href="/content/aerospace-daily-defense-report" hreflang="en">Aerospace Daily &amp; Defense Report</a></div> </div> </div> <drupal-render-placeholder callback="flag.link_builder:build" arguments="0=node&amp;1=4953711&amp;2=favorite&amp;3=rss" token="MYCKkHFcDaq77xcy3WpG3DIpcnlwkZmgyLTCTE9fjJ4"></drupal-render-placeholder> <div> <div>Exclude from lists?</div> <div>No</div> </div> <div> <span class="font-weight-bold">Tags:</span> <ul class="list-inline"> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="/term/turkey" hreflang="en">Turkey</a>,</li> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="/term/eurofighter-typhoon" hreflang="en">Eurofighter Typhoon</a>,</li> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="/term/bae-systems" hreflang="en">BAE Systems</a>,</li> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="/term/mbda" hreflang="en">MBDA</a></li> </ul> </div> <div> <div>Gating</div> <div> <div><a href="/taxonomy/term/35591" hreflang="en">ASD</a></div> </div> </div> <div> <div>Featured Image</div> <div> <div><a href="/media/image/2327296" hreflang="en">typhoon_1600px.jpg</a></div> </div> </div> <div> <div>Secondary Categories/Subcategories</div> <div> <div><a href="/taxonomy/term/346" hreflang="en">Defense</a></div> <div><a href="/taxonomy/term/451" hreflang="en">Budget, Policy &amp; Operations</a></div> </div> </div> <div> <div>Is iframe in the header?</div> <div>Off</div> </div> <div> <div>Knowledge Center Featured Content</div> <div>Off</div> </div> <div> <div>Do not render ads</div> <div>Off</div> </div> <div> <div>Temporarily set to AWIN Freemium</div> <div>Off</div> </div>

Aviation WeekAviation Week•hockensmithawin@gmail.com27 Oct 2025