In October 2023, Turkey was expelled from the F-35 programme. The reason: Ankara had purchased the Russian S-400 air defence system, and Washington refused to risk integrating America's most advanced stealth fighter into an air force that also operated Russian radar equipment. Turkey was out. The consequences, Turkish officials warned, would be serious.

It took two years. On March 25, 2026, Turkey and the United Kingdom signed a training and support agreement covering 20 Eurofighter Typhoons — the first major step toward delivery of a fighter that Ankara had been trying to acquire for nearly a decade. The deal is worth up to £8 billion. The planes arrive in 2030. Turkey is back in the Western fighter club.

What Turkey Actually Gets

The March agreement covers training and support — not the jets themselves, which were contracted in October 2025. Under the deal signed in London by Turkish Defence Minister Yaşar Güler and UK Defence Secretary John Healey, the Royal Air Force will train 10 Turkish instructor pilots and nearly 100 maintenance technicians. BAE Systems will supply spares, high-fidelity simulators, electronic warfare capabilities, and three years of technical support from the aircraft's entry into service.

The scope matters. Turkey isn't just buying aeroplanes — it's buying the knowledge to sustain and operate them independently. Training its own instructors means Turkey can run its own pipeline in perpetuity, without depending on UK or German trainers every time it needs new pilots checked out on the Typhoon.

The S-400 Problem Didn't Go Away

Turkey still owns its S-400 system. It has not dismantled it, handed it back to Russia, or placed it in storage in any way that satisfies Washington. The question of whether the Eurofighter deal — which involves British and European technology rather than American — represents a workaround for the F-35 impasse, or a genuine resolution of the underlying tension, remains open.

What is clear is that Turkey's strategic position has made it indispensable to NATO, regardless of the S-400. Controlling access to the Black Sea, hosting the Incirlik air base, and sitting on NATO's southeastern flank means Turkey gets accommodated in ways smaller members would not. The Eurofighter deal is, in part, a product of that leverage.

An £8 Billion Bet on European Air Power

For the UK, the deal is also significant. At £5.4 billion for 20 aircraft plus an additional £2.6 billion for the support package, Turkey's Typhoon order is one of the largest export defence contracts the UK has signed in years. It validates the Eurofighter programme commercially, supports thousands of jobs at BAE Systems and its supply chain, and deepens UK-Turkey defence ties at a moment when European security is being rebuilt from the ground up.

By 2030, Turkish pilots will be flying one of NATO's best fighters. The route there was longer and stranger than anyone expected — but the destination, it turns out, was always the same.

Sources: Defense News; Al-Monitor; The Defense Post; Aerotime