Türkiye poised to receive Eurofighter jets as Germany signals approval shift

Türkiye may soon acquire modern Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets for its air force, as expectations grow within the German government and defence circles that a long-delayed export deal is nearing completion.

Sources in the defence industry and senior officials in Germany, cited by Handelsblatt, indicated that the German government appears ready to abandon its previous opposition to the export of the jets.

The anticipated green light would mark a significant shift in policy and will likely be welcomed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who met with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) on June 25 on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague.

The Eurofighter is a joint European project involving Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain. While the UK is eager to export around 40 aircraft to Türkiye and formally submitted an offer as early as March, all four consortium members must approve any export deal. Until early May, Germany’s previous coalition government — comprised of the SPD, the Greens, and the FDP — had blocked the sale.

However, Berlin’s new centre-right and social democratic coalition is viewed as more favourable toward arms exports. Observers in the capital believe the Merz-led government will adopt a less restrictive approach, particularly when it comes to defence cooperation with key allies. During his inaugural visit to NATO headquarters in mid-May, Chancellor Merz referred to Türkiye as an important partner and pledged to “preserve and expand” bilateral cooperation.

For the Eurofighter consortium — particularly for Airbus Defence and Space, headquartered in Munich — the Türkiye deal would be of major strategic and commercial value. Airbus, which holds a 46 per cent stake in the consortium, is the largest partner and heavily reliant on export orders to sustain production. The other major stakeholders are BAE Systems from the UK and Italy’s Leonardo.

Although Germany, Spain, and Italy have committed to purchasing additional Eurofighter jets themselves, the limited scale of those orders falls short of what is needed to sustain full-scale production and ongoing technical upgrades. Serial production and software modernisation are critical if Europe aims to maintain an independent role in next-generation fighter development.

The global market for fighter aircraft continues to be dominated by the US. While approximately 612 Eurofighters have been delivered to date — with about 100 more on order — the US-made F-35 from Lockheed Martin has amassed more than 3,000 orders worldwide. Airbus Defence CEO Michael Schöllhorn has repeatedly urged Berlin to ease its rigid export controls, arguing that Europe must compete more aggressively in the international defence market.

According to one defence industry executive quoted by Handelsblatt, the Eurofighter deal is also politically strategic: “It’s about integrating Türkiye industrially with Europe.” So far, Türkiye has relied almost exclusively on American aircraft models like the F-16. Its bid to acquire F-35s was rejected by then-US President Donald Trump after Türkiye purchased Russian S-400 air defence systems.

European partners now see an opportunity to fill that void. Outside of the consortium countries, Saudi Arabia remains the largest Eurofighter client, having purchased 72 jets. Germany’s former coalition initially opposed additional sales to Riyadh due to Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the Yemen conflict and the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. However, the government later softened its stance.

The outgoing coalition’s final policy document, the National Security and Defence Industry Strategy (SVI), affirmed that Berlin supports legally binding intergovernmental frameworks for defence exports under European joint development projects. Such an agreement already exists with France. Whether similar arrangements will be pursued with other partners will now depend on decisions made by the new German government.

By Tamilla Hasanova