British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Monday evening that the UK has signed a major defense deal with Turkey, under which Ankara will purchase 20 Eurofighter Typhoon combat jets. The announcement came during Starmer’s visit to the Turkish capital, Ankara, where he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The two leaders signed the agreement, which Starmer said would “secure 20,000 jobs,” with the deal estimated to be worth around £8 billion. The move marks a significant deepening of defense ties between the two NATO allies and will bolster Turkey’s air defense capabilities as it seeks to narrow its military gap with regional rivals, including Israel.
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Keir Starmer and Recep Tayyip Erdogan
(Photo: Turkish Presidential Press Service/ AFP)
The announcement follows reports in July that Turkey had reached preliminary agreements to acquire 40 of the jets from the UK and Germany. According to sources quoted by Reuters, Israel’s airstrikes in neighboring countries such as Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and Qatar have heightened Ankara’s concerns over regional security, prompting it to upgrade its defense systems.
However, Sky News reported that the first batch of British-made jets is not expected to be delivered until 2030.
Turkey, which has enjoyed unusually warm relations with Western powers in recent years, aims to modernize its aging air fleet—currently composed mainly of U.S.-made F-16s—and is also seeking to acquire American F-35s. Ankara commands NATO’s second-largest army, and European governments increasingly view Turkey as critical to strengthening the alliance’s eastern flank and potentially contributing to a future stabilization force in postwar Ukraine.
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a fourth-and-a-half generation multirole fighter jointly produced by a consortium of Britain, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Turkey has been pursuing the deal since 2023 but has faced opposition from Germany due to Erdogan’s aggressive foreign policy—not only toward Israel but also toward Greece and Cyprus.
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Eurofighter Typhoon
(Photo: Richard Whitcombe / Shutterstock, Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Last week, Reuters reported that Turkey was close to a separate agreement to acquire 12 used Typhoons from Qatar and Oman to meet its immediate defense needs, while new aircraft from the UK would follow in later years. Erdogan visited both Gulf nations recently to discuss the plan.
In a statement, Starmer said the deal “secures highly skilled, well-paid jobs for years to come. This historic agreement with Turkey is a victory for British workers, a victory for our defense industry, and a victory for NATO security. At both ends of Europe, the UK and Turkey are vital in confronting today’s challenges, and this partnership will enable our forces to work more closely together to deter threats and protect our national interests.”
British Defense Secretary John Healey, who accompanied Starmer on the trip, said the agreement “will inject billions of pounds into our economy and keep Typhoon production lines running for many years.” He added that it would “strengthen NATO’s deterrent power and help safeguard our shared security.”
Starmer’s office described the accord as the UK’s largest fighter jet export deal in nearly two decades.