Turkey Begins Talks for Eurofighter Typhoon Jets

Bilal Khan

With the German government giving its approval to the Eurofighter Consortium to start talks on a potential sale of Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft to Turkey, negotiations with Ankara are now underway.

According to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the United Kingdom is the Consortium member leading the negotiations.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine multirole aircraft that is now jointly produced by Airbus, BAE Systems, and Leonardo, three of the European Union’s (EU) biggest aerospace and defence contractors.

Since its induction in 2003, the Typhoon has undergone four significant upgrades, with the Tranche 4 being its latest variant. Today, the fighter in its various iterations is in service with Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Austria.

The Middle East Eye reports that Ankara is seeking 40 Typhoon jets in a deal potentially worth upwards of $5.6 billion USD. Reports add that Turkey could acquire the aircraft in multiple batches, with the initial set consisting of 24 aircraft.

Turkey’s interest in acquiring the Eurofighter Typhoon dates back to November 2023, when Yaşar Güler, the National Minister of Defence told Turkish media that plans were underway to request 40 units from the Eurofighter Consortium.

At the time, Güler remarked that Turkey’s ability to buy the Typhoon was contingent on securing approvals from each of the Consortium members. By late 2023, Turkey had received a ‘yes’ from the United Kingdom and Spain, but Germany had yet to give its approval.

In June 2024, Ankara also signed a letter of acceptance (LOA) with the U.S. to acquire new-built Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block-70/72 Vipers and up to 79 F-16V upgrade kits for its existing fighter fleet.

The total value of the new Turkish F-16 program was set at $23 billion USD. There are reports of Ankara potentially diverting some resources from the F-16 program to help fund a Typhoon purchase. The upgrade kits and off-the-shelf munitions purchases would be impacted.

For its long-term air combat and industrial development needs, Turkey is also developing a lead-in fighter trainer (LIFT) and next-generation fighter aircraft (NGFA) via the Hürjet and KAAN, respectively.

Why is Turkey Seeking the Typhoon?

On the surface, Turkey could be seen as seeking an alternative to the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, a stealth NGFA. Indeed, one could have expected a modernization path centered on the F-35 and F-16V had Turkey remained in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program.

After being removed from the JSF, Turkey initiated its own NGFA via the KAAN program. Though it had sought a homegrown fighter since 2016 (when it initiated the TF-X program), leaving the F-35 prompted Turkey to design the TF-X in a particular way – i.e., to produce a large twin-engine fighter that can support a strike role in the future.