Giancarlo Mezzanatto, CEO of Eurofighter, confirmed Türkiye’s interest in acquiring the fighter jets but revealed that Germany had obstructed the sale.
Mezzanatto’s remarks, reported by Euronews on Sunday, came more than two weeks after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urged German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to lift the block that has frustrated Ankara.
Türkiye’s interest in the twin-engine, supersonic Eurofighter Typhoon jets emerged after a prolonged process over its acquisition of F-16 warplanes from the U.S.
The warplanes are built by a German, British, Italian and Spanish consortium, represented by Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo.
In November, Türkiye announced it was in talks with Britain and Spain to buy 40 Eurofighters, but Germany objected.
The U.S. finally approved the sale earlier this year of 40 of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s latest generation F-16s and 79 kits to modernize Türkiye’s existing fleet.
The green light came after Ankara formally ratified Sweden’s membership in NATO.
Since then, Türkiye is said to have been looking to scale back what is estimated to be a $23 billion contract.
It is seeking to produce some warplane parts locally and buy fewer upgrade kits and munitions to save billions of dollars amid spending cuts at home, Bloomberg News reported earlier this month.
Despite the progress with the F-16 sale, officials have said Türkiye maintained an interest in Eurofighters.
Mezzanatto confirmed that Ankara aimed to purchase 40 to 50 aircraft, but Germany thwarted these efforts.
During a meeting on the sidelines of this month’s NATO summit in Washington, Erdoğan urged Scholz to end the ban on the sale.
“Scholz did not have a negative stance on Eurofighters,” the president noted.
Mezzanatto suggested that Germany’s blockage could be linked to Türkiye’s natural gas exploration activities in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The sea has long been a major cause of tensions between Türkiye and Greece, in addition to the Cyprus dispute and territorial sovereignty in the Aegean. However, in recent months, the sides have taken confidence-building steps toward a fragile normalization.
Despite receiving 69 orders since his appointment last May, Mezzanatto reaffirmed his June 2023 target of selling 150-200 jets in two years.
In September 2023, the consortium sold 25 jets to Madrid, 20 to Berlin and 24 to Rome.
Additionally, Mezzanatto mentioned the progress in selling 48 jets to Saudi Arabia following Germany’s lifting of the arms embargo and noted that Poland needs 32 fighter jets.
The Eurofighter, which first flew on March 27, 1994, is used by Austria, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, aside from the consortium members.
Türkiye first sought to purchase Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jets, but the U.S. imposed sanctions, known as CAATSA, and removed it from the multinational program to buy, help develop and build the warplane in 2019 after it acquired Russian-made S-400s.
Ankara has repeatedly said the purchase of two battalions of the surface-to-air missile system followed the U.S.’s refusal to supply Patriots.
Washington argued that the S-400s posed a risk to the advanced fighter jet, whereas Ankara insisted they would not be integrated into NATO systems.
Türkiye had ordered about 100 F-35s, and its companies were building some 900 fighter jet parts.
Ankara has repeatedly demanded reimbursement for its payment for the F-35s before requesting to buy F-16 warplanes and modernization kits to refresh its existing fleet.
Türkiye seeks to replace the aging F-16 fleet in the Air Forces Command’s inventory, which will be phased out starting in the 2030s.