In another boost for Turkey’s aerospace industry, Spain has reportedly decided to acquire additional Turkish Hurjet aircraft, bringing the total purchase to about 45 units. Meanwhile, India’s LCA Tejas and AMCA are trying to catch up with Turkish aircraft.
Mehmet Demiroglu, CEO of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), which produces the Hurjet, said Spain plans to buy 15 additional Hurjet trainer aircraft, in addition to the 30 supersonic jets already ordered in December 2025, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
“Before we even started deliveries to our Air Force, Spain said, ‘I like it, I want to buy 30,’ and bought them. We signed the agreement,” he was quoted as saying during an event in Türkiye’s northern province of Kastamonu. “We are working toward deliveries in 2028. It is planning to buy another 15,” the CEO added.
Earlier, Spain approved the purchase of 45 Hürjet jet trainers in September 2025 in a €3.68 billion deal led by Airbus Defense and Space España. Under the agreement, the first units are scheduled for delivery by 2028.
The Hürjet is a single-engine, tandem-seat advanced jet trainer and light combat aircraft intended to provide modern combat pilot training, bridging basic trainers and front-line fighters.
It is designed primarily to replace the Turkish Air Force’s aging Northrop T-38M Talon advanced trainers and the Northrop F-5s flown by the Turkish Stars aerobatic team, although the aircraft also supports fighter transition training, aggressor roles, and light combat or close air support missions.
Spain, for its part, is acquiring it primarily as a trainer within a complete integrated training ecosystem, rather than as a pure combat aircraft.
In recent years, the Turkish defense industry has made major strides toward indigenization and expanded its export potential, including the Hürjet, the Hürkuş, and the KAAN.
TAI previously said Spain was considering acquiring the KAAN stealth fighter after the collapse of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program the country was pursuing with France and Germany, as the EurAsian Times reported at the time.
Separately, Indonesia has already signed a deal to acquire 48 KAAN fighters, along with provisions for extensive collaboration in manufacturing, technology transfer, and engineering, among other things.
Demiroglu added that Hurkus deliveries have begun and will continue in the coming years, citing Azerbaijan as an export market and expressing hopes of additional international sales. Azerbaijan signed a contract at the ADEX 2026 defense exhibition in Baku for 14 HÜRKUŞ-II trainer aircraft, although countries like Niger, Chad, and Libya have already ordered the aircraft, according to publicly available information.
Nonetheless, Hürjet’s export success is strategically more significant than it might first appears. This is mainly because Hürkuş is a relatively simple turboprop basic trainer whose exports matter but are less technologically advanced, whereas the KAAN is far more advanced and prestigious, but its full operational capability and export readiness are years away.
Therefore, the Hürjet sits in the middle: an indigenous trainer or light combat aircraft, and selling it to a sophisticated NATO country proves Turkey can design, certify, produce, and support a high-performance jet aircraft that meets Western standards.
Turkey Takes A Lead Over India
Hürjet benefited from a relatively clean-sheet design optimized for the trainer or light-attack role, a strong political and industrial focus, and a partnership model that made entry into Europe easier.
Turkey began developing the Hurjet in 2017 as an advanced jet trainer with a light combat role. It first flew in 2023, and Ankara is now ramping up serial production, while increasing its local structural content.
By contrast, India’s Tejas program began in the 1980s. The aircraft took its first flight in 2001, but the program remained mired in delays, and induction came much later, in 2016.
Although the Indian Air Force (IAF) has finally received all Tejas Mk1 aircraft after a grueling wait, delivery of the more capable Mk1A, with AESA radar and other upgrades, has yet to begin because of delays in delivering GE-404 engines.
Despite marketing efforts and interest from several countries over the years, Tejas has not secured a major export order. India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has said it prioritizes fulfilling IAF commitments before aggressively pursuing foreign sales.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s defense industry has enjoyed continual high-level prioritization, faster decisions on aircraft variants, and a strategy of securing an early Western reference customer.
The gap is also visible at the fifth-generation level.
Both Turkey’s KAAN and India’s AMCA are twin-engine multirole fighters currently under development. However, Turkey appears to be ahed in the race despite India starting early.
KAAN made its first flight in February 2024, and multiple prototypes have since been flying. The Turkish Air Force has ordered the first 20 Block 10 aircraft, with deliveries to start in 2028. Furthermore, Ankara is steadily advancing development of an indigenous engine for later KAAN jets.
Meanwhile, India’s AMCA is in its industry selection and prototype development phase, with the first flight targeted for September 2028 and service induction planned for 2034–2035. Most IAF experts talking to EurAsian Times have privately doubted this ambitious timeline.
Turkey moved relatively quickly from design to a flying demonstrator and is already iterating with multiple airframes, whereas India has spent longer in the detailed design and industrial-partner selection phase. Moreover, Turkey has maintained a visible, sustained, high-level focus, combined with lessons from parallel programs such as Hürjet and a host of other UAV development programs that helped compress timelines.
Turkey’s success over India in aircraft development programs comes from its experience. In the late 1980s and 1990s, TAI produced 232 Block 30/40/50 F-16s under license for the Turkish Air Force, plus 46 Block 40s for Egypt and later 30 Block 50s. It license-produced the CN-235 transport and maritime-patrol aircraft, Cougar utility helicopters, and SF.260 trainers.
TAI also performed extensive F-16 electronic-warfare and structural upgrades for Turkey, Jordan, and Pakistan; converted Boeing 737s into AEW&C platforms; participated in the A400M program; and developed the Anka UAV family.
Additionally, the country has also fielded the T129 ATAK attack helicopter and, in 2023, flew the heavier twin-engine T929 ATAK 2, while producing light and medium utility helicopters.
These programs, along with a political drive to become a major arms supplier and the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation’s institutional role in the defense industry, have accelerated progress.
“Their desire to lead the Islamic world as its most powerful nation and become a major arms supplier has taken Turkey forward in defense production. Also, the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation holds a large shareholding in military industries, and it has its own dynamics,” Air Marshal Anil Chopra (retd) argued in a previous EurAsian Times article, referring to Turkey’s achievements.
“India has to learn from Turkey’s successes in unmanned platforms. They are also ahead in helicopters and transport aircraft. Turkey is clearly way ahead in the fifth-generation fighter program,” Chopra further noted.
As for Turkey, Hürjet’s NATO export breakthrough and faster KAAN development demonstrate that Turkey has established a measurable lead over India in the pace and export conversion of combat-aircraft development in recent years.
- Contact the author at sakshi.tiwari13 (at) outlook.com
- Follow EurAsian Times on Google News
