The United Kingdom and Türkiye have taken a significant step toward a multi-billion-pound export deal for Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by Defence Secretary John Healey and Turkish Defence Minister Yaşar Güler at the International Defence Industry Fair in Istanbul.
The agreement sets the stage for what would be the first Typhoon export order secured by the UK since 2017. According to the Ministry of Defence, the deal would sustain up to 20,000 UK jobs linked to the Typhoon programme and contribute to NATO’s collective defence posture.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “The UK’s production of Typhoon fighter jets is an engine for economic growth – supporting the lives and livelihoods of thousands of British people right across the UK. Signing a multi-billion export deal with Türkiye will sustain and protect 20,000 UK jobs for future years to come.”
The Defence Secretary described the signing as a key delivery step under the government’s Strategic Defence Review, which identified defence exports as a central pillar of national security and economic policy. “Today’s agreement is a big step towards Türkiye buying UK Typhoon fighter jets,” John Healey said. “It shows this government’s determination to secure new defence deals, building on our relationships abroad to deliver for British working people.”
As part of the planned export deal, around 37 percent of each Typhoon aircraft would be manufactured in the UK. BAE Systems would lead final production at its Warton facility, supported by components such as radars from Edinburgh and engines from Bristol.
Charles Woodburn, Chief Executive of BAE Systems, said: “This Memorandum of Understanding underscores the importance of long-standing defence cooperation through NATO and the critical role Typhoon plays in security and defence in Europe and the Middle East.”
The agreement builds on existing defence-industrial ties between the UK and Türkiye. It also marks a new operational focus for the Ministry of Defence, which will assume responsibility for defence exports from 31 July 2025.
UK defence exports were valued at £14.5 billion over the most recent 12-month period, say the UK Government in a news update on this topic. The MoU with Türkiye is expected to strengthen both national defence capabilities and bilateral industrial cooperation, they added.
There was an excellent article about this in The Guardian of all places a week ago entitled “‘There’s a bit of a queue forming’: how UK firms are enticing buyers for the next generation of fighter jets”. BAE certainly seem very confident of big orders to Turkey, SA and Qatar
I saw that too.
A surprisingly good article for the usually anti arms industry Guardian.
The key to getting Tempest on budget is to keep moving fast. A fast timeline allows less time for The Good Ideas Club to fiddle with the design or for Treasury to try to push it to the right.
Reeves has been pushed into a terrible spot by her party’s anti wealth policies and she is harvesting the fallout from that. I fear defence uplifts and fudging are easy targets.
Sorry but Reeves has been pushed into a corner? the lady is a clown and way out of her depth. The Treasury saw her coming and had her on the back foot from day one with the cutting of the WFA.
I agree about the Guardian article it was good and the economic mess that is going to get worse with the Carry On team in charge will have an impact on any proposed increase in defence spending.
Don’t get me wrong it is a clown show that makes the Conservatives look competent and they were not great…..
For a brief moment I thought that Starmer was actually going to reform welfare and I have to say that would have been a very large tick. Sadly he has all the staying power of a cheap deckchair – folds at the slightest push.
I don’t like Reeve’s instinctively. However, Reeves and Starmer are just about holding in check the left of the party who are intent on student politics of soaking the ‘rich’. As we have seen, do far, that once you have a certain level of wealth and a marketable skill plane tickets are easy to buy to places that want you. It is delusional to think that people will not do this to leave behind a wealth tax. 2% a year doesn’t sound like much but if you have a house that is worth £1.5m [not that unlikely] and you are asked to part with £30,000 a year just for owning it that is ridiculous and I would leave the country. Most don’t have a spare £30k/pa to support socialist nirvana. The other issue is that it will crash the housing market with people leaving the country.
Given the child level logic that Labour are using they won’t be able to get their head round that. As they could not understand that ending non Dom would cause a massive exit of the wealthy – it already has and it has crashed investment in start ups. Hunt is partly to blame for stating that idiocy rolling.
London was frighteningly quiet when I went for a walk around Chelsea and Belgravia yesterday. It is not a good sign at all.
I mean an economy that is growing, business confidence at a long term high, significant increase in inward investment over the last year. Highest growth in the g7 (real data rather than the made up version of the last government) That’s the type of clown I can get behind.
Exactly. I didn’t vote Labour at the last GE, but even I can see that the kicking they’re getting over the economy is, as it usually is, inspired by tabloid garbage, grifters on the right, and a big dose of Tufton ****-stirring.
All gleefully sucked up by the ignorant.
Ooooh Ian Mc! The reality is that it is inspired by economic data rather than so called Tufton ****-stirring.
I didn’t vote Tory but we can all use stats and unemployment is up and job vacancies down, which of course would have nothing to do with the first Labour budget? NI increases perhaps?
The U.K. is expected to slip down the G7 league table as the economy slows and the tax take is likely to exceed the post war high (1948) within the next couple of years as a result of further tax rises.
I couldn’t care less about right or left but surely you can see the direction of travel is no better than under the previous incumbents, however, much most sane want it to be otherwise.
@Steve
” Highest growth in the g7 (real data rather than the made up version of the last government”?????
Umhhh! Please do elaborate. I’m really interested in this fake data and how the OECD, IMF and World Bank were conned by the Tories.
It would be nieve to think labour are doing all out great, but the data indicates over the last year things are improving.
Unemployment is marginally up, but its by 0.1% and was raising since q3 2022, so has nothing to do with NI changes.
My issue is people stating reeves is doing a bad job, she is doing a mixed job at worse. Compare that to the period in the last government and all the data was getting worse.
In real terms the country has been stagnated for the last decade or so, but at least there are now some postiive data, especialyl around business confidence and inwards investment which will create jobs and drive the econony, assuming they remain high.
time will tell, but to me there is a lot of positives, not least the increase in defence expenditure.
Phew that’s a relief!there’s me thinking we might run out of money to keep giving away👍
@Steve I am afraid I can’t share your confidence, however, much I wish we were heading in a positive direction. The one prediction I will make is that if the next budget substantially increases taxes for the majority of working people then Labour are toast at the next election.
Oh Steve! I guess all the employment data for the UK published by the ONS, The Commons Library and Statista, not to mention The Guardian (yes The Guardian), are also made up, fake Tory data. Those Tories are geniuses. Hat’s off to them.
Excellent news. Now cancel the F 35 and buy another 20/25 Typhoons for the RAF. Role on Tempest.
50
Would be good..
Exactly. Put your money where your mouth is HMG.
Unlikely but true.
So you want to put out of work the BAe workers who build 15% of EVERY F-35 at huge profit to the UK and destroy the skills needed to build Tempest? Are you French?
Unsure how they’d be out of work? There are hundreds of orders still being completed.
The F-35A order would be the one getting the boot as it’s needless and a waste of money, to carry a warhead we have zero autonomy over.
Umh….who builds the Typhoon? The Chinese?
In the age of advanced AA defences, the F-35 is a much-needed asset
Typhoon is gen 4.5, and is not stealthy
In a near-peer battle space, the F-35 would best be used to designate targets for the Typhoons.
Neither is the F35 with external kit and as things are it has very little to tuck into it’s tum..!
Great aircraft. Great work. Great deal. Kudos all round 👏
Germany certainly delayed the process and introduced uncertainty into the deal, but another step closer — great news!
Seems like an excellent way of leading into future sales of Tempest, just as unexpected sales of earlier jets like Lightning to Saudi Arabia led into massive sales of Tornados and Eurofighters later. May also re ignite uk input into Turkey’s own 5th Gen fighter which has taken an in, out, shake it all about journey through its development as far as RR and Bae are concerned.
Trump is doing wonders for European arms suppliers even if it has given a shorter term boost to their US companies too. But one sees the old business routine with him in operation, boost immediate sales and profits (usually for him and associates) at the direct cost of future declines because it makes him look good in headline news and the latter issues down the line is someone else’s problem, that will also ironically make him look at least superficially good in retrospect… to the unsophisticated or myth spreaders anyway.
Why export advance warponery to a Muslim Brotherhood ruler? It will eventually become very hostile to Israel, and may attack it?
Why would Turkey, a NATO member, attack Israel?
Because Israel are murdering cnuts.
One can read that in two ways.
Yes they’re killing the cnuts, not murdering the cnuts. It’s war! Did the British and Americans murder the cnuts in Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo or Nagasaki, or were they casualties of war.
You can’t viciously and barbarically attack a neighbouring country and expect that there would not be serious and tragic consequences for your people, especially when you refuse to surrender; likewise Berlin 1945.
If Russia were to strike London with dozens of missiles, killing thousands of Cockneys, what would you have Britain do? Write a strongly worded letter of protest! Of course you’d declare war and retaliate in spades. That’s what would be expected. But only because you are not a Jewish state. For them the rules are different simply because they are Jews. They just have to suck it up and take like they did in Ravensbruck, Dachau, Sachsenhaussen, Flossenberg, Buchanwald, Breendonck, Mauthausen, Belzec, Auschwitz, Birkenau, Gross-Rosen, Majdanek, Plaszow, Pustkow, and Treblinka; just to name a fraction.
Like many others today, and I presume you as well, the people who ran these places were also advocates of “From the Rivers to the Sea”. Six million dead; the state of Israel will never allow this to happen again. They have the nukes and are prepared to use them; just as you are.
They just have to suck it up and take **IT** like they did in Ravensbruck…
NO EDIT FEATURE.
They just have to suck it up and take **IT** like they did in Ravensbruck…
From the River** to……
NO EDIT FEATURE.
Stop insulting British heros who fought a Nazi empire! Stop comparing their memory to war criminal Nethanyahu! Something too often pro Israel supporters and Israeli do too these days!
Oh James! I haven’t insulted anyone, not the British nor the Americans, unless you regard pointing out your hypocrisy as an insult. In that case I’m guilty as charged.
BTW I had grand and great grand uncles who served in the British Army in both World Wars. One of them is buried in Greece. I am very proud of them. Unlike some here, I’m sure they weren’t hypocrites.
Ahh …Poor little Hamas, they had no Kevlar available,
so they had to use Gaza’s civilians as shields instead.
I do not trust Erdogan the Ottoman, he has turned Turkey away from secular democracy towards an autocracy that is based on his religious dogma.
There are elements in every country that are hostile to Israel.
Including this one.
“Where there is religeon, there is hate”.
….. and where there is pigeon, there is poo!
yes shameful and blind to history or current events just to make a pitance
Not only is the dictator cosy with the Muslim Brotherhood, but Turkey frequently threatens Greece’s territorial imtegrity, Turkey still occupies part fo Cyprus and blackmails Europe with illegal migrants.
All this when the RAF should be getting more Typhoons instead of a handful of stealth fighter to drop US owned gravity nuclear bombs and ofc cannot be refuelled by Voyager fleet.
last point. how long until Turkey retro engineers the kit for its own local industry? (ie engines and meteor missile)
cognitive dissonance
Turkey is a Muslim country unashamedly! So what ? 2 billion Muslims exist on this planet! You live like medieval times as your name suggests 😅😂 Islamophobia motivation can’t be even hidden.
Better they have pitchers then from Russia or China. It makes them dependent on us and gives us leverage in need be (spares, maintenance, consultancy, replacements, training, upgrades etc).
Pitchers? Should say ‘our aircraft’, what the heck happened there
Turkey is buying this to bridge a gap until it’s 5th Gen Kaan fighter jet is ready in the next few years. They have a huge defence industry which can reproduce any parts it needs incase sanctioned etc So I think like you said this is a huge win for the UK! Besides this as sovereign country the UK is not the US it has it’s own interest like France that it must look out for. Israel does nothing for the UK nor should we walk away on their behalf. This brings more British jobs and billions into the economy
It’s isn’t advanced, It’s 30 years old and obsolete.
Who cares about Israel? We owe Israel Nothing that genocidal country! Nor do most Britons care about Israel! The era of supporting that genocidal regime is over ! During the height of the pandemic Turkey donated shipments after shipments of medical supplies to the UK while Israel refused to share anything! You think we forgot that ??
Whilst this is of course great news, the UK really needs to purchase a minimum of 36 T5 Typhoons ASAP (to replace the retired T1s), potentially as many as 72 if we want to boost numbers (which we need to do).
It’s not that long ago (1990) when we had around 600 fast jets. We’ve never recovered from retiring all the Tornado GRs, Jaguars etc etc
See. Nothing to worry about….🙂
“Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “The UK’s production of Typhoon fighter jets is an engine for economic growth – supporting the lives and livelihoods of thousands of British people right across the UK. Signing a multi-billion export deal with Türkiye will sustain and protect 20,000 UK jobs for future years to come.”
So would ordering more for the RAF….but for some strange reason you cannot bring yourself to do that can you.
The thing is Daniele, the days of empire which gave us a captive export market for the high volume sales which lower unit costs are long gone. I have always admired the way the French made a France first buying policy work for their armed forces. Rafale with French weapons has been an export success. But we also know that when they enter into a ‘partnership’ it often means French dominance and that, for example, NH90 and Eurocopter Tiger are probably not as good as their UK or US equivalents. I don’t have a problem with this holistic UK govt strategy: find a way to make a buy British policy work by getting the export orders as part and parcel of procurement for the UK. I have no doubt that a huge amount of patient diplomatic work with Germany, Türkiye, the US, and probably Spain ( I expect those tranche 2 Typhoons figure in this deal somehow) and the EU has gone into getting this order. Orders from SA and Qatar look more likely now, as does an increase in RAF fast jet numbers. Treat yourself to a dram – it’s a good day 🙂
Hi Paul.
What increase in fast jet numbers?
Are we waiting for the autumn equipment plan like we were for the SDR? 🙃
The strange reason being a few billion quid….
It’s financially better to do an export order and invest in Tempest.
So finances and industry ahead of military need.
Again.
And when Tempest is here, there will still be too few, the RAF will still be too small, and nothing will have changed.
And posters will be saying exactly the same.
And round the wheel turns. Always about tomorrow.
I support Tempest. But it is costing 12 billion just to develop, never mind buy.
Sooner or later HMG has to start buying for today, not a future that never arrives or is cut or watered down by rhe next government.
To be fair it seem the RAF are a bit F35A obsessed. I suspect if the RAF had asked for Typhoons they may have got them.
That is the long held view.
But is it actually true? Or an assumption following on from the inter service rivalry.
Where is it stated by RAF officers that they want F35A above anything else?
The A order was seen as primarily political.
To be honest I’m not sure the Labour government are so interested in defence to be overly political about it.. to my mind someone pushing for the A order and in reality the only executive organisation that would even bother pushing for an A order would be the RAf. If it had come out as a recommendation in the defence review or the US was pushing for an A order I could see it being politically pushed through.. but to my mind this smells like the RAF pushing the idea to the treasury around saving some in year money.
There was a bit of an accidental leak in March 2025, that showed the RAF wanted and was having F35s.. apparently a BAE employee wrote to his MP about the potential loss of jobs if typhoon was not ordered.. this then went to the MOD who sent it the the RAF..it seem the senior RAF officer asked to respond got a bit over excited and wrote a comprehensive response essentially saying the typhoon was dead and the RAFs future was fifth generation and they had already decided that not only were they purchasing more F35Bs but they were also moving to f35As.. is a fascinating letter that’s been analysed and published…
“How the letter with the assertions about the F-35 and Typhoon ending up getting released and then passed to The Times is still a mystery. One senior Ministry of Defence source suggested the Unite trade union’s “forceful lobbying campaign” in favour of Typhoon was at play, which prompted pro-F-35 factions in the RAF to come out fighting in response.
But Defence Eye thinks there are some big hints in the language used in the piece, especially those attributed to “defence sources”. They have a familiar ring to Defence Eye – resembling language used by several RAF senior officers at conferences and briefings of late. Quite abrupt talk of “expensive Typhoons”, “less capable Typhoon” and the like, contrasted with “more capable F-35As”.
Personally I’d like to see F35B and Typhoon, our own product, ordered before A.
But considering the RAF have had Harrier, Jaguar and Tornado GR4 pulled away from them with no real replacement I don’t blame them.
Are Typhoons more expensive than the F35A then ? and more capable at what exactly? Did they elaborate ,once they were challenged of course.
I’d love to see the pro’s & cons vs. the expenditure.
As far as I’m concerned, it stemmed from some RAF wind commander getting a bit upset that the Navy had newer fixed wing aircraft.
This is part of the reason for the A order from what I can gather. Willy waving about the Air Force being nuclear capable like the Navy, even if the warhead’s use is controlled completely by the US.
Once the Tempest flying demo makes its debut, the F-35 obsession within the RAF will miraculously disappear.
I’d say Typhoons were nominally more expensive to buy, but far cheaper to run than F-35A. However, they are cheaper to buy and run than the B. We don’t know how much Tranche 5 Typhoons would cost, but the guesswork is £80-90m. F-35s are generally more capable in stealth and sensor fusion. Typhoons are better in weapons carriage and delivery. I have no idea how the new radars and sensors on both platforms will compare. The old F-35 radar is better than the one on the Typhoon, but if we ordered more of either plane we should get the new stuff.
At the moment a combination of both F-35s and Typhoons looks to be the sweet spot, but the advantages of the F-35A over the B seem to boil down to price. The range is a pros and cons thing, with carriers and Voyagers perhaps giving F-35B the edge in some places, while the longer unrefuelled range and plentiful NATO tanker support might give it to the As in others. The payload weight difference is almost irrelevant at the moment, although when the larger bomb bay on the A gets an extended rack, the A might get a real advantage in carring more bombs than the B.
Even ignoring the greater hourly operational costs, the biggest issue is the number of F-35s non-operational, particularly F-35Bs. Is an F-35A really cheaper to buy if you pay for 10 and get 3 working rather than pay 15% more for T5 Typhoons and have 7 working? Defence Eye claims we are down at 20% availability for the F-35Bs, but I’m not sure that can be right. On top of that if we push ahead with the A we’ll have the greater maintenance and infrastructure costs associated with a third operational fast jet platform.
If I had money right now for RAF jets, I’d go for 24 Typhoons and that would be it for new 4th gen, assuming Tempest is built to time (or thereabouts). So a decade of Typhoon upgrades and F-35s to follow.
It’s a useful order that will keep the production line open. From memory though, it’s only 20 new Typhoons, the other 20 are our retired F2s (aka the tranche 1 ones), No doubt the latter are going at the MOD’s usual knockdown, bargain-basement price.
Have to hope Turkiye goes on to order a second tranche, while the Khan is still at early development stage.
Of course we should be replacing the 30 F2s withdrawn prematurely from service with at least 30 of the latest Tranche 5 version with its ECRS radar. I’m sure the RAF would love to but alas there is no money in the fast jet budget for more Typhoons.
The FJCA budget is only enough to buy 6-7 new aircraft a year.
It has all been bagged for F-35bs for the… RN’s carrier, for 5 or 6 years now and for the next 4 or 5. So no new Typhoons on the horizon
Whether it is strategically wise to allocate 34% of our very limited air power to sail off on our one operational carrier is another matter – one for future historians no doubt..
You may be right that only 34% is nowhere near enough at sea but its about the same ratio the US has.
What is 34% of bugger all ? 🤔👀😁
errrrrr leave that one with me. I think I know it , but I just need to find my calculator to verify.
Hopefully, the deal the MOD does for the sale of the 20 Tranche 1s and 20 new to Türkiye is structured in such a way that we can afford the 20 or so Tranche 2s that are up for sale by Spain. Accountants have their uses. 🙂
I think it’s after first-hand operational experience with F35, of any variant is why the RAF would want more F35s over Typhoon. That all aspect stealth, sensor fusion and an insanely capable radar give commanders plenty of options. As well as the first night of war capability. Along with the ease of interoperability with other nations F35s. They are all using the same tactics, all learning from each other. F35 operations really are another world compared to other fast jets. The ability to share targeting data to a drone, a warship, an Army commander, a Wildcat, and other fast jets makes them force multipliers. It’s another level of how we can fight the air war.
There are some interesting videos about the air support for operation Midnight Hammer over Iran.
Altogether, a fleet of 125 US aircraft was involved.
The F-35s provided targeting for F16s + F18(SEAD)
Some AA platforms/radars got taken out, it is estimated that around 35 HARM missiles were fired.
Some F18 carried ECM jamming pods
No Iranian AA missiles were fired, no Iranian fighter jets got airborne.
Israel achieved complete air dominance over Iran by using both F35A and F16,F15. The 4th generation aircraft dropped most of the ordnance with F35 tasked with suppression of air defences.
The difference in range between F35A and B is offset by our ability to operate B from a carrier. There is no logic in the plan to buy A version to save a bit of money on training. The nuclear role is unnecessary. What the RAF needs is usable platforms capable of delivering a wide range of weapons. Typhoons does that now, F35 doesn’t and won’t for several more years.