Turkey agreed to buy 20 new Eurofighter Typhoons from Britain for £8bn (R184bn) on Monday, deepening the Nato allies’ ties and bolstering Turkish air defences as Ankara said it was also seeking 24 more jets from Gulf states.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, on his first visit to Turkey since taking office last year, signed the deal with President Tayyip Erdogan and called it a “landmark moment”. Erdogan said joint defence industry projects could follow.
The deal, which some analysts called expensive, comes as Turkey seeks to leverage the advanced warplanes to make up ground with regional rivals such as Israel, which has unleashed strikes across the Middle East this year.
Europe has increasingly turned to Turkey, Nato’s second-largest military and a major exporter of armed drones, to reinforce its eastern flank and potentially backstop any future post-war stabilisation force in Ukraine.
PLANS FOR 24 MORE FROM OMAN AND QATAR
Separately, the defence ministry said Turkey plans to buy 12 more Typhoons each from Oman and Qatar.
Last week, citing a person familiar with the matter, Reuters reported Turkey was nearing a deal in which it would quickly receive 12 Typhoons, albeit lightly used, from Oman and Qatar to meet its immediate needs, with more new jets coming from Britain in future years.
London said Ankara would receive the first of the 20 Typhoons in 2030. Starmer said the deal, for which talks began in 2023, included an option to buy more.
Istanbul-based security and defence analyst Burak Yildirim called the £8bn price tag “outrageously high” and “unprecedented”, even if it includes options, ammunition, spare parts and training.
“They’re selling planes at frigate prices,” Yildirim said.
“The agreement is outright fraud. You can’t have a combat jet for £400m (R9.2bn). They’re selling one plane for the price of four.”
The sides did not give details on what, beyond the planes, was included in the deal.
FILLING GAPS IN TURKEY’S FLEET
In July, Turkey and Britain had signed a preliminary purchase deal for up to 40 Typhoons approved by Eurofighter consortium members including Germany, Italy and Spain, represented by Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo.
Last week, Erdogan visited Qatar and Oman in part to discuss the plan.
Turkey, enjoying its warmest ties with the West in years, has sought to procure the Eurofighters and also potentially US-made F-35s to backstop its ageing fleet of mostly F-16s.
It wants to fill a gap before its own Kaan fighters are ready in coming years, and last year it secured a $7bn (R120.5bn) deal with Washington for 40 F-16s that have faced delays.
Air attacks by Israel — the region’s most advanced military power with hundreds of US-supplied F-15, F-16 and F-35 fighters — on Turkey’s neighbours Iran and Syria, and on Lebanon and Qatar, have unnerved Ankara over the past year and persuaded it to revamp its defences, officials said.
Reuters
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.