PARIS — Turkey and the United Kingdom signed a memorandum of understanding on the export of Eurofighter Typhoon jets on Wednesday, bringing the government in Ankara a step closer to buying the multi-role fighter aircraft built by a consortium of four European countries.
Negotiations on the potential deal with Turkey will continue in coming weeks, the U.K. government said in a statement. While Turkey has been seeking to buy Eurofighter jets since 2023, talks had reportedly stumbled on German reluctance to grant an export license.
The bulk of the Turkish Air Force’s fighter fleet consists of aging F-16 jets, with the country suspended from the F-35 program after buying S-400 air-defense systems from Russia. While Turkey is developing its own fifth-generation KAAN stealth fighter, that jet is still in the prototype phase.
“Today’s agreement is a big step towards Turkey buying U.K. Typhoon fighter jets,” U.K. Defence Secretary John Healey said in a statement. “Equipping Turkey with Typhoons would strengthen NATO’s collective defense, and boost both our countries’ industrial bases.”
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The MoU signed by Healey and Turkish Defence Minister Yaşar Güler codifies the relationship between the two nations in a step closer to a full agreement, and an export deal would support the defense industries of both countries through reciprocal purchases, the U.K. said.
A multi-billion export deal for the Eurofighter would be the first export order for the aircraft secured by the U.K. since 2017, and would help sustain 20,000 British jobs involved in the program in coming years, according to the government. Turkey is reportedly seeking to buy as many as 40 of the jets.
While the U.K. didn’t provide financial details, Spain ordered 20 Eurofighters in 2022 for €2.04 billion (US$2.4 billion), or a price of €102 million per aircraft. That suggests a purchase of 40 jets by Turkey, which doesn’t yet operate the fighter and would require support equipment and services, could be worth at least €4 billion.
Under the Eurofighter work share agreement, the equivalent of 37% of each aircraft would be manufactured in the U.K., with the remainder produced by partner nations, the British government said. Final assembly would take place at the BAE Systems site in Warton, England, with radars produced in Edinburgh and engines from Bristol.
The partner nations in the Eurofighter consortium are the U.K., Germany, Spain and Italy.
“BAE Systems will continue to work closely with the governments of Turkey and the U.K. to formalize an agreement for procurement of Typhoon aircraft and associated supplies in due course,” BAE said in a separate statement on July 23.
The U.K. is the biggest Eurofighter operator with 159 jets in service, followed by Germany with 141 of the jets in operation, and another 40 on order, according to data from Airbus. Italy has a fleet of 95 Eurofighters, with 17 more on order, while Spain operates 70 aircraft with another 48 still to be delivered. Outside Europe, Saudi Arabia is the biggest operator with a fleet of 71 Eurofighters.
Turkey’s rival Greece operates the French Rafale aircraft alongside older F-16s and Mirage 2000s, and has ordered F-35s. The more modern Rafale equipped with Meteor missiles provides a beyond-visual-range advantage over the F-16s operated by the Turkish Air Force.
Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.
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