Published On 27/10/2025
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Last update: 23:29 (Mecca time)
On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a contract to purchase 20 aircraft.Eurofighter TyphoonDuring his meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Ankara.
While standing alongside Starmer, Erdogan welcomed this agreement, considering it to represent a “new symbol” of strategic relations between Ankara and London.
The British Ministry of Defense indicated that this is “the largest contract for (purchasing) combat aircraft” in years, explaining that “the first deliveries will take place in 2030.”
During the signing ceremony, the British Prime Minister said about this deal, which London estimated at 8 billion pounds (9.2 billion euros), that Turkey was defending “the southeastern bank of NATO,” and this deal would guarantee 20,000 jobs in the United Kingdom.
Industrial partnership
Erdogan said that cooperation on Eurofighter Typhoon fighters with the United Kingdom will open the door to joint projects in defense industries, considering the agreement between the two countries “a new sign of the strategic relations between Turkey and Britain as close allies.”
For his part, British Defense Secretary John Haley, who visited Ankara with the Prime Minister to conclude the agreement, said that the deal “goes beyond just purchasing aircraft…it constitutes the main element in the growing industrial and defense partnership between the two countries.”
The Turkish President, who wants to modernize his country’s air fleet, is seeking to purchase 40 aircraft of this model, which are manufactured by a consortium that includes 4 European countries (the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Spain).
Ankara, which initially preferred the American F-35 aircraft, in recent years turned its attention to the Eurofighter aircraft, after it was excluded from the American program for the aforementioned fighters due to its purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system.
The Turkish President and the British Prime Minister chaired an expanded meeting between officials from the two countries in Ankara, where some agreements were signed and the necessity of maintaining the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip was stressed.