Turkey is interested in purchasing 40 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets, despite having reached a $23 billion deal with the United States to buy F-16s. This was reported by Reuters on Thursday, February 1, according to UNN.
Details
It is indicated that Ankara is negotiating with Britain and Spain to purchase the Eurofighter Typhoon. A source in the Turkish Ministry of Defense said that the negotiations began after Turkey recognized that its request for F-16s from the United States, made in October 2021, might not work.
Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft are manufactured by a consortium of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain.
Last week, US President Joe Biden's administration officially notified Congress of its intention to begin selling 40 Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets and nearly 80 modernization kits to Turkey, the day after Ankara fully ratified Sweden's NATO membership. However, the decision still has to go through the US Congress.
It is known that Turkey, which is seeking to modernize its air force, is also developing its own national combat aircraft, the KAAN, in cooperation with BAE.