Türkiye expects a positive outcome on the procurement of Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets soon, sources from the Defense Ministry said on Thursday.
“Discussions are ongoing with government officials from the U.K. and representatives from the manufacturing company regarding the sale of the Eurofighter Typhoon to our country,” the sources said.
“We expect a positive outcome soon.”
The Eurofighter jets are built by a consortium of Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain, represented by companies Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo.
Ankara said last year it was in talks with Britain and Spain to buy the warplanes, though Germany objected to the idea. Since then, it has complained of a lack of progress on the issue over Berlin’s reluctance.
In mid-October, defense ministry official said Türkiye had been conducting technical work aimed at accelerating its planned purchase of the jets.
After his talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Istanbul on Oct. 19, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said a project to possibly supply Türkiye with Eurofighters was an effort being driven by Britain and was in the early stages.
Asked about the subject, a British government spokesperson said, “We continue to make progress on the potential export of Eurofighter Typhoon to Türkiye, an important NATO ally.
“We wish to leave behind some of the difficulties experienced in the past in the supply of defence industry products and develop our cooperation,” Erdoğan told reporters after his talks with Scholz.
NATO member Türkiye earlier this year secured a deal to procure 40 F-16 fighter jets and 79 modernization kits for its existing F-16s from the United States after a long-delayed process.
The sources from the Defense Ministry on Thursday said technical discussions are ongoing with U.S. government officials and representatives from the manufacturing company on the procurement of the warplanes
Türkiye has largely become capable of meeting its own defense and security needs and this has also positively influenced the partial lifting of covert and overt embargoes, the sources stressed.
Türkiye is also developing its own national combat aircraft, named Kaan.
