The UK Government has confirmed its continued support for the prospective sale of Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Turkey, while acknowledging ongoing discussions with Germany and other partner nations involved in the programme, according to a written parliamentary response published on 30 April 2025.
Responding to a question from Graeme Downie MP (Labour – Dunfermline and Dollar), Defence Minister Maria Eagle stated: “We hold regular discussions with Germany on a range of issues related to equipment and joint programmes.”
She added: “The UK is supportive of the prospective sale of Eurofighter Typhoon to Turkey, as its next fighter platform.”
The Eurofighter Typhoon programme is a joint venture between the UK, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Any sale to a third country requires the consensus of all partner nations. Germany has previously expressed reservations over the sale of advanced military equipment to Turkey due to political and regional concerns.
Despite this, Eagle confirmed that “we continue to discuss our ongoing bid for Turkey to procure Typhoon with the other Eurofighter Partner Nations, including Germany.”
The potential deal would mark a significant boost for the UK defence industry and the Eurofighter consortium, as Turkey seeks to modernise its air force following its removal from the U.S.-led F-35 programme.
It’s an interesting argument between Germany and the nations backing the Turkish desire for Typhoon, especially in its consequences for future German-involved programmes. FCAS is in this sense an example, with the export-focused France and the cautious Germany working together.
Has France pushed for Turkey to consider the Rafale? As much as I would prefer for the Typhoon to be procured, the Rafale can do essentially everything that the consortium fighter can do (and more, given its in-service AESA and Spectra suite) with fewer export restrictions. The Typhoon exceeds it only in certain specific aspects, specifically interceptor performance.
Wouldn’t any new orders for Typhoon automatically include AESA anyway?
I’d be surprised if they got the Radar2 Full Fat version.
I’ve read that Turkey would get ECRS2 – and Meteor.
Any info on how many turkey are considering?
40
Yes it will, foreign orders are all AESA now, the mechanical version is no longer in production.
France will never export the Rafale to Turkey.
It’s already strange that we don’t block everything we can regarding the EF (Meteor/SCALP mainly).
Turkey is seen as a potential threat.
I agree Turkey are a threat and I’m slightly amazed we are going to share Typhoon.
Equally I’m bewildered that India are in line for F35. As this degrades the usefulness of it and ensures that China and Russia will learn some of its secrets.
Trump can’t give India F35, only Congress can approve ITAR.
It has zero chance of getting it.
Quite, the Indian government would sell its own mother.
I would put my house deeds on the fact that Russian test pilots and technicians have already crawled over and test flown Rafael.
All for some Russian oil and Gas.
Don’t trust them as far as you can throw them.
I doubt if India would sell their proverbial
own Mother to China, but Russia might be a risk.
Which made the P8 sale to India an interesting decision?
The country that India are leasing a submarine from and they have our premier opposition detection platform?
Very weird….I can only assume that various key bits are not in the export version?
SB – The Indian P8’s are unique i think in having a MAD Boom.
Isnt Turkey part of NATO and therefore considered a friendly nation ?
This people are delusional! Turkey is developing a 5th Gen jet and the Euro Fighter is just an interim . When drones were not sold to Turkey they build their own and now are the world largest exporter of drones. Same happened with air defence systems and now they no longer need Patriot or the S400.
Those that say turkey can’t be trusted must understand Turkey has now grown into a huge defence exporter including the UK are buying Turkish tech from drones to armoured vehicles
99.9% correct
They are developing all of this with the help of occidentals.
It’s already superb for them, but it’s not magic. You can’t start from zero and do everything, Turkey’s superpower is having access to Western technologies.
As for drones, the current generation of these drones is already surpassed (like the Eurodrone, except maybe for maritime patrol). We can see in Ukraine that the TB2s are no longer game-changers, they were only effective because of the poor organization of the Russian army.
As for the 5th gen fighter, without massive technology transfer to Turkey, it’s impossible for them. Even South Korea didn’t do it, and that’s not without reason.
Certainly. Not friendly to follow NATO country Greece, and invaded half Cyprus over 50 years ago!
Turkey is already ahead! No European power ever built a 5th Gen fighter jet lol So you can say whatever. Turkey has more drones than all of Europe combined! It has new generation of drones , what was used in Ukraine very successfully and Syria Libya was the cheapest drone and it’s the most successful drone in history. Turkey is producing unmanned fighter jets with zero help from the west ⬅️
Nice joke James
Didn’t Rolls Royce have a major partnership with TAI?
France and Turkey have an on and off relationship for the last 5 centuries. Turkey received Milan, Eryx ATGMs and Cougar helicopters from France in 90s, engines for cruise missiles in 2000s. France was trying to offer Tiger attack helis to Turkey in late 90s as well. They also offered Tornados and Jaguars in 70s.
So never say never.
Thanks for your confirmation that Turkey is a superpower now.
You don’t need to be a super power (which turkey isnt) to be a threat.
Also the threat isnt against France directly, but against Greece, and France will protect Greece.
I don’t really belong in this comment section but I’ve always thought (loosely) of Turkey as ‘the enemy’. May I ask why you specifically say France would defend Greece. How far back does this go? I’ve missed it.
France and Greece have a mutual defense accord (2021) in addition to the NATO and EU ones.
True
👍Exactly!
It’s worth considering that if Turkey can’t buy US or European jets, then we’re sending them down the road to a deal with Russia or China. Selling Turkey EFs strengthens relations between all parties.
Not true. The Typhoon has a sensor suit similar to SPECTRE called DASS which is more adept at self protection and has several active measures the Rafale does not. Its mechanical radar is also capable of scanning and tracking from further with a larger azimuth and has a 2 way data link so it can guide and update missiles in flight where as the Rafale cannot. The AESA upgrades only increase the capability gap by a huge margin. The Typhoons radar is twice the size of the Rafales. The Typhoon in air to air is a lot more capable than the Rafale will ever be and with the new radars it will be a more advanced reconnaissance and electronic attack platform.
Spectra is generally considered to be more capable than the Praetorian system.
I’ll bow to your knowledge of the radar systems, not my area of expertise.
That’s mostly marketing. DASS is capable of identifying and reacting to threats in all weather conditions from much further distances and it also has many more active techniques to decoy threats. The Typhoon is much more well protected than the Rafale.
SPECTRE focuses on passive detection to identify threats while DASS uses active means. This has pros and cons for the Rafale it means it can detect threats without emitting any energy which allows it to protect itself even when flying with it’s sensors which could be identified through its emissions off. Where as for the typhoon without it’s active sensors it no longer has 360 degree tracking and detection of threats.
However with active sensors for threat detection it guarantees that they work consistently without suffering degradation in bad weather and they also have a longer reach allowing the system to react to threats earlier.
Once a threat is detected DASS automatically classified the threat and selexts the best countermeasures to deploy while also indicating to the operators the best manoeuvre to evade the threat. To defeat threats DASS currently employs 2 forwards facing jammers and 1 rear facing to protect the aircraft from all angles. It also has 2 toed decoys to mimic the aircrafts signature and decoy missiles, brite cloud is now also part of the system which is a droppable active decoy and chaff illuminated by millimetre wave frequencies.
Compared to the Rafale which only has jammers to protect itself you can see that DASS is extremely comprehensive and should not be thought of as an inferior system.
I agree, Rafale certainly had an edge over typhoon with AESA primarily due to Germany dragging its feet but the CAPTOR E Mk2 is a real game changer.
Spectra was certainly more capable than Pratorian DASS however I believe the inclusion of Brite cloud in the later has brought them much closer together.
The Typhoon already has an AESA the MK0 radar and has done for years. Its essentially an upgrade of the antenna using the same backend as the mechanical radar. Which is the same thing the French did years ago except their radar is much smaller and is not mounted on a mechanical gimble making it less capable in many ways. So no in no world does the Rafale have an edge over the Typhoon currently or in the future. The Mk1 and Mk2 are both more advanced and more capable than anything even planned for the Rafale F5. The Rafales radar capabiity is heavily limited because of the size of its radome.
As for Turkey purchasing the Rafale, the reason they want the Typhoon is because Greece recently purchased the Rafale and they want a fighter capable of matching the Rafale.
Turkey and France hate each other, no way is the Rafale going to Turkey
We dont hate Turkey, we hate herr dog Ann and its lackeys, not the same thing.
Is that the same Rafale with the asthmatic engines?
The Rafale with small AESA radar?
The Rafale that is even outclassed in BVR capability by the pint-sized Gripen?
Rafale is not a bad fighter-bomber … but the fanboys do lap-up rather too uncritically the PR spin by Dassault’s marketeers.
“Omni-role”?? Don’t make me laugh!
You get your facts from facebook i’m guessing
He’s not wrong.
Then why do people buy Rafale? And why was it rated above the F35 and of course Eurofighter in Netherland and Switzerland? Don’t know…
Eh? The Netherlands and Switzerland bought the F-35 – not Rafale.
Rated
Very well said.
Should the UK government also be supporting the purchase of Typhoons for the RAF ?
“Where there is a will, there’s a way”.
Ah…but where is the will?
Steady on there, old chap. We only buy new military equipment when we run out of excuses to delay and we still have so many more. If we can extend the discussions on RAF Typhoon numbers for only five more years we can kick in with the excuse that it’s not really worth it, what with Tempest on the horizon. Delays to Tempest purchases might mean not needing to buy anything at all for the next fifteen years. Job done, and we can hand over the thorny problem to the next generation of Treasury naysayers. We have to fund tax cuts for party donors somehow.
Makes the choice of partners and the structure of GCAP look better and better. Leave the Germans to the thin gruel France will give them as part of SCAF.
Apologies, meant FCAS.
SCAF & FCAS are the same.
Just SCAF is in French (Système de Combat Aérien du Futur) while FCAS is in english.
Money Money Money
This Labour government would sell their grandmother for less than the gold in her teeth.
Grizzler, the state the girl from accounts has got the economy in they would have little choice
Probably the best thing we could possibly do to ramp up foreign interest is buy another 35 ourselves! Whatever the merits of next-gen aircraft, we need planes in the air and spares in the hangars, and we may need immediate replacements for shot-down aircraft within a few years.
Of course they’ll feed us the nonsense (which surely nobody believed anyway) that the Typhoon is more expensive than the F35. Yeah ok then.
I wonder if someone higher up knows something laypeople like me don’t, and that’s why they aren’t buying them.
Is this an actual security concern from Germany or an attempt to shutter UK production lines, maybe both? Place a UK order to keep the lines open, then see how it goes, those concerns may vanish and there’ll be jets to sell with skills maintained. Turkey is looking for an interim buy itself, so they’d probably be open to hardly used airframes.
I can’t wait to see all the pressure applied to Italy once GCAP is ready for orders…
Now that Germany has a new Chancellor can we look forward to a formal announcement of the Typhoon order from Turkey?