Secretary of Defence Industries (SSB) Professor Haluk Görgün announced that an agreement was signed between Turkiye and Spain regarding the Jet Training Aircraft Project. Görgün did not include any reference to exports in his statement. In an exclusive report published during the summer season, Defence Turkey wrote that Spain offered to sell 6 A400Ms to the Turkish Air Force in exchange for the purchase of 24 HÜRJETs. Although the report was largely denied, Hürjet performed a demonstration flight in Spain.
Professor Görgün stated in his social media post that the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the SSB and the Spanish Ministry of Defence once again emphasised the importance of cooperation with friendly and allied countries. Görgün used the following expressions in his statement:
“Today, we are proud to witness another historic step in the defence industry. The Memorandum of Understanding that forms the basis of our cooperation with our old NATO ally Spain on the Jet Training Aircraft Project indicates strong friendship and common vision.”
We continue to strengthen our cooperation in the defence industry with our allies and share our national and domestic technologies with friendly countries. I want to thank all SSB units, the TUSAŞ team, and our Madrid Ambassador and Turkish Armed Forces Attaché who contributed to this process.”
HÜRJET is being developed within the project’s scope to renew the Turkish Air Force’s training aircraft fleet. The project aims to produce a modern training aircraft that will replace the T-38M and NF-5A/B 2000 aircraft. In the first phase, four aircraft were ordered for the Turkish Air Force, and an option right was awarded for 12 aircraft.
According to TUSAŞ’s plans, four HÜRJET Block 0s will be delivered by the end of 2025 and 12 HÜRJET Block 1s by the end of 2028. In addition, an order for 12 additional HÜRJET Block 1s for the Turkish Stars aeroteam has been finalised. The company aims to sell 100 HÜRJETs to the Turkish Air Force and 300 to international customers by the mid-2030s.
Additionally, the second prototype of HÜRJET performed its maiden flight in November 2024 with a range of changes compared to the first prototype.
Some of the second prototype’s features include a new radome with a bigger area, wingtip hardpoints for air-to-air missiles, and splitter plates at the air intakes.
The new radome has considerably more area than the first prototype, suggesting that this prototype might be the testbed for MURAD AESA radar’s HÜRJET variant.
The wingtip hardpoints signal the transition to the weapons testing phase as HÜRJET in LCA configuration will carry two Bozdoğan WVRAAMs on its wingtips.
On the other hand, TUSAŞ Motor AŞ TEI, located in Eskişehir, signed an agreement with GE Aerospace to supply 100 F404-GE-102 Turbofan Engines.
