Last year, Turkey signed a deal for 20 new Eurofighter Typhoons after a long and grueling campaign to bolster its aging Air Force. Now, it is looking to strike another deal—this time with Qatar to buy its surplus Typhoon jets.
In its weekly media briefing on October 22, Rear Adm. Zeki Aktürk, the chief spokesperson of the Turkish Ministry of Defense (MoD), said Turkey is keen to finalize an agreement with Qatar to purchase its used Eurofighter combat aircraft.
“Efforts are ongoing to procure Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft from Qatar to meet the operational needs of our [Turkish] Air Force Command,” he stated. “Within this framework, inter-delegation meetings held in August and September addressed the scope of aircraft and ammunition to be procured, the training of pilots and maintenance personnel, and technical and logistical support for the maintenance and operation of the aircraft.”
Although Qatar has not officially confirmed whether it was looking to sign a deal, the Turkish Defense Ministry said, “It is expected for Qatar to prepare the draft training program and the sales contract to be sent to our country.”
Turkey signed a deal in October 2025 to buy 20 Eurofighter Typhoon combat jets from the United Kingdom, a major step in its bid to modernize its air force.
After the deal was announced, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he was exploring purchasing surplus Eurofighters from both Qatar and Oman. The UK deal allowed Turkey to buy Eurofighters from other operators, but through a separate contract.
Currently, Erdogan seems particularly focused on Qatari Eurofighters because they are reportedly more advanced than Oman’s.
It is currently not clear how many Eurofighters Turkey is seeking from Doha. However, previous reports hinted that Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler and Air Force Commander General Ziya Cemal Kadıoğlu visited Doha in October last year to negotiate a deal for 12-24 Tranche 3A Eurofighters.
Qatar currently operates 24 Eurofighter Typhoon Tranche 3A aircraft and has ordered an additional 12 Tranche 4s for the Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF).
Theoretically, Qatar could transfer 12 of these existing jets to Turkey, giving it a ready-made batch that would equip a squadron. Besides Eurofighters, Qatar also operates about 48 F-15QAs and about 36 Rafales.
Turkey and Qatar have strong bilateral defense ties that have deepened significantly since the early 2010s. In fact, military ties are the backbone of the relationship, with Qatar hosting 3,000 Turkish soldiers at a military base in Tarqiya, Qatar.
Turkey To Close Capability Gap With Eurofighter
Turkey has been eager to secure surplus QEAF Eurofighter Typhoons to bolster its Air Force, which currently relies on an aging F-16 fleet.
The Turkish Air Force has come under immense pressure in recent years, especially after Ankara was expelled from the F-35 consortium in 2019 and sanctioned under CAATSA (Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) for buying the Russian S-400 air defense.
The sanctions also made upgrading and sustaining the F-16C/D fleet harder, more expensive, and more complicated.
At the same time, Turkey’s arch-nemesis, Greece, has acquired 24 Rafale and signed a contract for 20 F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters amid rising regional tensions with Ankara, particularly over the Aegean Sea. This power vacuum has put Ankara in a tough spot.
Turkey is now upgrading its F-16 fleet to counter Greek F-16s, pushing to purchase F-35s to counter Greek F-35s, and acquiring the Eurofighter Typhoon to rival the Greek Rafale.
Ankara has also advanced work on its own fifth-generation aircraft, the KAAN.
However, developing a fifth-generation fighter requires years of testing, software development, weapons integration, and pilot training. Moreover, the Turkish Air Force would receive the first jet only in 2028, and it would take much longer to reach operational maturity and even longer to field a substantial number of these jets.
Meanwhile, the Turkish administration is lobbying the United States to authorize an F-35 sale to Ankara and is actively pursuing a strategy to divest itself of its Russian-made S-400.
Last month, President Erdogan said Ankara could regain access to the stealth fighter, adding that he expects Washington to take “concrete” steps toward Turkey’s return. “US President Donald Trump expressed a positive willingness regarding Turkey’s return to the F-35 program,” the Turkish President stated at the time.
While both KAAN and F-35 will change the region’s security landscape by adding teeth to Turkish air power, their arrival is not imminent.
This makes buying second-hand Eurofighter Typhoons more significant for Ankara.
Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine, 4.5th-generation multirole aircraft. It is extremely agile, making it a very powerful dogfighter. The aircraft has a reduced radar cross-section, AESA radar, sensor fusion, advanced avionics, and supercruise capability.
“The Eurofighter Typhoon is the world’s most advanced swing-role combat aircraft,” the Airbus website states. “No other fighter has integrated such a large number of European and US weapons, making it combat-ready for any mission.”
The aircraft is designed for high-performance aerial combat, combining powerful engines, advanced sensors, and a high rate of climb with the ability to carry modern air-to-air missiles, such as the Meteor.
Acquiring the Typhoons from Qatar could help bridge the capability gap until new-build Eurofighters arrive.
Furthermore, Qatar’s aircraft could also give Turkey valuable experience with the Eurofighter platform before more aircraft arrive. Turkish pilots and maintenance crews would need training, while engineers would have to establish procedures for servicing the aircraft and supporting their weapons.
The Eurofighter would give Turkey another modern multirole fighter capable of conducting air-superiority missions, intercepting hostile aircraft, and carrying out precision strikes against ground targets.
It could be particularly useful for air patrols and missions over the Aegean, the eastern Mediterranean, and other areas where Turkey needs to maintain a strong air presence, even as it bolsters its air force with other cutting-edge fighters.
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