Turkish Aerospace started the Hürjet in July 2017 with its own money, and its board formally approved the project that August. The company had already built a turboprop trainer, the Hürkuş, and had a growing role in fighter work, but no Turkish design had flown as a jet. The conceptual design phase was completed in April 2018, and on 22 July 2018 the Turkish Air Force signed an agreement with the company, giving the project a customer. A critical design review was completed in March 2021, and in January 2022 the decision was taken to move towards series production.

The jet was designed alongside the national fighter programme that became the KAAN, and the two share an ambition: to reduce Turkey’s dependence on imported combat aircraft after the country was removed from the F-35 programme in 2019. The Hürjet still depends on an American engine, but in July 2024 Turkish Aerospace, GE Aerospace and the Turkish engine maker TEI signed a memorandum on F404 integration and local assembly and maintenance. The Turkish Air Force order was eventually set at 16 aircraft, four in Block 0 configuration and twelve in Block 1, and production was planned to reach two aircraft a month.

Spain’s Ejército del Aire y del Espacio trains its fighter pilots at Ala 23 at Talavera la Real, near Badajoz, on the F-5M, a modernised version of the Northrop F-5B. About 19 remain in service, and they were overdue for replacement. After a Hürjet prototype was evaluated at Torrejón in July 2024, Spain and Turkey signed a memorandum on 20 December 2024. On 26 February 2025 the commanders of both air forces flew the aircraft in formation, and in May 2025 Turkish Aerospace, Airbus and the Spanish defence ministry agreed a framework for joint production.

The Spanish government approved the programme in autumn 2025, with a total package reported at about 3.7 billion euros including industrial pre-financing for Airbus. On 28 December 2025 the contract for 30 aircraft, worth about 2.4 billion euros, was signed. Airbus is the national coordinator and leads the Integrated Training System for Combat, known as ITS-C. The first two aircraft are to be converted to Spanish standard at Getafe and the rest at a new national conversion centre. Initial deliveries are planned for 2028, with fully Spanish-configured aircraft following between 2031 and 2035.

• Prototypes: two flying prototypes, first flown on 25 April 2023 and 12 November 2024, which between them flew more than 500 test sorties by August 2026.
• Block 0: initial Turkish Air Force configuration; four aircraft in the national order.
• Block 1: main production standard for the Turkish Air Force, twelve aircraft in the order; the first series aircraft flew on 30 August 2026.
• Spanish version: aircraft delivered in an initial configuration and converted by Airbus with national avionics, mission systems and Spanish components for the ITS-C programme.
• Light combat version: armed configuration using the seven hardpoints, intended to supplement the F-16.
• Naval version: studied for operation from the amphibious assault ship TCG Anadolu; not built.

Neither Turkish Aerospace nor the two air forces have published an hourly cost, so any figure is an estimate. The Hürjet sits between two classes. It is more expensive to run than subsonic trainers such as the Hawk or M-346, because it uses an afterburning engine and is built for supersonic flight. But it has a single engine, where most fighters it prepares pilots for have one or two larger ones, and its fly-by-wire system lets the air force move training sorties off costly front-line jets.

The Spanish contract figures illustrate the gap between price and cost. Roughly 2.4 billion euros for 30 aircraft includes not only airframes but the ITS-C ground training system, simulators, the conversion of each aircraft to Spanish standard by Airbus and support. Spain also budgeted about 1.04 billion euros of industrial pre-financing between 2025 and 2029, spread over the years of conversion and delivery, to build up the domestic share of the work.