Ankara, Oct. 28, 2025 — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that the U.K. has signed a landmark agreement to sell Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Turkey in a 10-year deal worth nearly $11 billion, following high-level talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara.
“This is a really significant deal — £8 billion worth of orders and jobs lasting a decade,” Starmer said, calling it “big for our country.” Britain’s defence ministry described it as the biggest fighter jet deal in a generation, involving 20 Eurofighters that will enhance Turkey’s air power and strengthen NATO’s southeastern flank.
Erdoğan welcomed the agreement as “a new symbol of the strategic relations between our two close allies.” Starmer was accompanied by Defence Minister John Healey and Air Chief Marshal Harv Smyth, head of the Royal Air Force.
However, the visit came under the shadow of a spying scandal, after a Turkish court charged Istanbul’s jailed opposition mayor with espionage over alleged links to a Turkish businessman accused of spying for Britain.
Turkey has been seeking to modernize its air fleet since being expelled from the U.S. F-35 program in 2019 due to its purchase of Russian S-400 missile systems. The new deal signals Ankara’s pivot toward European defence cooperation.
According to reports, two jets will be delivered immediately, with the rest to follow under the long-term framework. Analysts noted that some of the aircraft originally intended for Qatar may instead be redirected to Turkey.
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is visiting Ankara on Tuesday to discuss related defence arrangements and potential coordination on Eurofighter transfers.
Beyond defence, discussions between Erdoğan and Starmer are also expected to cover regional security and Gaza’s post-war stabilization, with Turkey expressing interest in joining an international peacekeeping force — a proposal opposed by Israel.
