Typhoon jets UK agrees £8bn deal with Turkey for 20 aircraft

Britain has agreed to sell 20 Typhoon fighter jets to Turkey in an £8bn deal despite concerns about alleged human rights violations by its government.

- Jasper Jolly Patrick Wintour

The deal was signed by Keir Starmer during a visit yesterday to Ankara, Turkey's capital, to meet the country's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The British prime minister said the deal would boost the Nato alliance despite criticisms of Turkey's increasingly authoritarian government.

The deal was signed just as Erdoğan's chief political opponent, Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is in jail, faced new charges including alleged links with British intelligence.

The jet, also known as the Eurofighter, is a joint project between the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain, and has been one of the Royal Air Force's key aircraft for two decades, having been used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Starmer described it as a “landmark agreement” and “a win for British workers, a win for our defence industry and a win for Nato security”.

Turkey's new jets will be assembled by BAE in the UK and the first delivery is expected in 2030.

The order will secure the jobs of about 500 workers on an assembly line at the weapons maker BAE Systems' factory at Warton, Lancashire. The order will also benefit a facility making front fuselages at Samlesbury, 20km to the east.