Turkey, UK agree on Eurofighter exports in step closer to deal

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.”

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.

巴黎——周三，土耳其和英国签署了一份关于出口欧洲台风战斗机的谅解备忘录，使安卡拉政府距离购买由四个欧洲国家组成的财团制造的多用途战斗机又近了一步。

英国政府在一份声明中表示，与土耳其就潜在交易进行的谈判将在未来几周内继续进行。尽管土耳其自2023年以来一直寻求购买欧洲战斗机，但据报道，由于德国不愿发放出口许可证，谈判一度陷入僵局。

土耳其空军的战斗机主力是老旧的F-16战机，该国在从俄罗斯购买S-400防空系统后，已暂停参与F-35项目。虽然土耳其正在研发自己的第五代隐形战斗机KAAN，但该战机目前仍处于原型机阶段。

英国国防大臣约翰·希利在一份声明中表示：“今天的协议是土耳其购买英国台风战斗机的重要一步。为土耳其配备台风战斗机将加强北约的集体防御，并提升我们两国的工业基础。”

英国方面表示，希利与土耳其国防部长亚沙尔·居莱尔签署的谅解备忘录使两国关系正式化，朝着达成全面协议又迈进了一步。出口协议将通过互惠采购支持两国的国防工业。

据英国政府称，这项价值数十亿英镑的欧洲战斗机出口协议将是英国自2017年以来获得的首笔该型战机出口订单，并将有助于在未来几年内维持参与该项目的2万个英国就业岗位。据报道，土耳其正寻求购买多达40架该型战机。

虽然英国没有提供具体的财务细节，但西班牙在2022年订购了20架台风战斗机，总价20.4亿欧元（约合24亿美元），即每架1.02亿欧元。这表明，土耳其如果购买40架台风战斗机（该国目前尚未装备该型战斗机，且需要配套设备和服务），其总价值可能至少为40亿欧元。

英国政府表示，根据欧洲战斗机项目的工作共享协议，每架飞机37%的部件将在英国制造，其余部分由合作国家生产。最终组装将在位于英格兰沃顿的BAE系统公司工厂进行，雷达将在爱丁堡生产，发动机则来自布里斯托尔。

欧洲战斗机联盟的伙伴国包括英国、德国、西班牙和意大利。

BAE系统公司在7月23日的另一份声明中表示：“BAE系统公司将继续与土耳其和英国政府密切合作，在适当时候正式签署台风战斗机及相关物资的采购协议。”

根据空客公司的数据，英国是最大的台风战斗机运营商，拥有159架现役战机；德国紧随其后，拥有141架现役战机，另有40架订单。意大利拥有95架台风战斗机，另有17架订单；西班牙运营70架，另有48架待交付。在欧洲以外，沙特阿拉伯是最大的台风战斗机运营商，拥有71架。

土耳其的竞争对手希腊除了装备老旧的F-16和幻影2000战斗机外，还装备了法国的阵风战斗机，并且已经订购了F-35战斗机。配备流星导弹的更先进的阵风战斗机在超视距作战方面比土耳其空军装备的F-16战斗机更具优势。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。