German Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that the deal with Turkiye for Eurofighter is anticipated to be signed this year, following a visit to Ankara.
Following his visit to Ankara and a meeting with the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, German Minister of Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul commented on the subject of the Eurofighter Typhoon deal sale to Turkiye in his interview with NTV.
Underlining the ongoing war in Ukraine, Wadephul stated that talks between Turkish authorities and the firms (Taking part in Eurofighter’s production/development) are ongoing.
Regarding the timeline, Wadephul said:
“I think it will happen soon, it might be this year. Eurofighter is a fighter that has been in production for a while, and the capacities are being expanded. Thus, the delivery to Turkiye should take place in a short time. However, these decisions on these matters are up to the firms. We need ink on a deal first, which is being worked on.”
It can be inferred that the signing of the deal is likely to take place within this year, if there are no delays. However, the delivery is guaranteed to be a longer process considering the fact that Eurofighter is largely a foreign platform for the Turkish pilots in terms of interface, as the F-16 has been the only jet to serve as a fighter.
However, the adaptation process can be eased with assistance from Qatar, which operates Eurofighter Tranche 3 and has large-scale military cooperation with Turkiye. One could expect the upcoming meeting of Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with Qatar might cover the subject of assistance with the training for Eurofighter for this reason.
Compared to F-16 variants in service, Eurofighter in its current state holds significant advantages in air-to-air capabilities thanks to the use of an AESA radar, onboard IRST, and the ramjet-powered Meteor air-to-air missile. Thus, Eurofighter is a viable interim solution before the wide-scale commissioning of indigenous platforms (KAAN, KIZILELMA, next phase of F-16 ÖZGÜR modernisation...) or systems (MURAD AESA radar, GÖKHAN and GÖKBORA BVRAAMs...) to succeed the legacy ones.
Author: Kaan Azman
Editor:Özgür Ekşi
