ANKARA: Turkiye is negotiating with Qatar and Oman to acquire used Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets as part of its effort to bolster its air force capabilities, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in comments released Friday.
Turkiye aims to purchase dozens of Eurofighters and other advanced jets as a stopgap measure to strengthen its fleet until its domestically developed fifth-generation KAAN fighter jet becomes operational.
In July, Turkiye and United Kingdom signed a preliminary agreement for the sale of Eurofighter Typhoons, which are produced by a consortium made up of the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain. However, reports indicate that the Turkish government is also seeking to source secondhand jets from Gulf nations to meet its immediate needs.
“We discussed the ongoing negotiations with the Qatari and Omani sides regarding the purchase of Eurofighter warplanes,” Erdogan told journalists Thursday during a flight returning from a Gulf tour that included Qatar and Oman.
“The talks on this technically detailed matter are progressing positively,” he said, according to a transcript released Friday.
During his three-day tour of Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman, Erdogan oversaw the signing of several agreements, including in the defense sector, his office said, without providing details.
Turkiye, a member of NATO, is also pursuing the country’s return into the US-led F-35 fighter jet program, from which it was removed in 2019 following its acquisition of Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems. The US had cited security risks to the F-35 program.
Erdogan raised the issue of Turkiye’s reentry into the program during a meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House last month.
Turkish officials have stated that the country plans to acquire a total of 120 fighter jets — 40 Eurofighters, 40 US-made F-16s and 40 F-35s — as a transitional fleet until the KAAN is expected to enter service in 2028 at the earliest.
Turkiye in talks with Qatar and Oman to buy used Eurofighter jets, Erdogan says
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Turkiye in talks with Qatar and Oman to buy used Eurofighter jets, Erdogan says
- President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed the talks in comments released Friday as part of a plan to strengthen Turkiye’s fleet until its domestically developed KAAN fighter jet becomes operational
Helicopter crashes in Libya during medical evacuation, killing 3
- The Matan Al-Sarra air base lies in an area under the control of Libya’s Benghazi-based eastern administration led by military strongman Khalifa Haftar, but authorities in the east did not comment on the crash
TRIPOLI: A helicopter has crashed in southeastern Libya, killing a medic and two crew members carrying out a medical evacuation, state media said Tuesday.
Libyan news agency LANA said the chopper went down overnight near an air base in the Kufra region about 60 kilometers north of the border between Libya and Chad.
The aircraft was attempting to evacuate a soldier who had been involved in a road accident in the desert, LANA said.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known and it was unclear what happened to the injured soldier.
Libyan media reports said two foreign nationals were among those on board who were killed, but this was not confirmed by authorities.
The Matan Al-Sarra air base lies in an area under the control of Libya’s Benghazi-based eastern administration led by military strongman Khalifa Haftar, but authorities in the east did not comment on the crash.
Libya remains split between the eastern administration and a UN-backed government in the west led by Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah. The LANA news agency is under the control of western authorities.
Libya has struggled to recover from chaos that erupted following a 2011 Arab Spring uprising that toppled and killed longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi.
