The first Turkish Air Force pilots have arrived in Britain to begin training on the RAF’s formidable Typhoon fighter jets, marking another major milestone in an £8 billion defence deal supporting thousands of skilled jobs across the UK.
Two experienced Turkish combat air pilots have begun their conversion training with 29 Squadron at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, becoming the first pilots from their country to train to fly the Eurofighter Typhoon.
The arrival is the latest stage of the huge agreement between the UK and Türkiye for 20 Typhoon fighter aircraft, together with weapons, training and support.
The deal is supporting around 20,000 skilled jobs across Britain and keeping some of the country’s most important aerospace manufacturing capabilities in production.
British workers in Lancashire, Bristol and Edinburgh are among those benefiting, with production and final assembly taking place at BAE Systems’ sites at Warton and Samlesbury, Rolls-Royce in Bristol producing critical components for the aircraft’s EJ200 engines, and Leonardo in Edinburgh manufacturing its advanced radar equipment.
More than a third, 37 per cent, of every aircraft is manufactured in the UK, with the wider Typhoon supply chain involving around 330 British companies.
It makes the agreement much more than simply the sale of 20 fighter jets. It represents a substantial export order for British defence manufacturing, engineering and aerospace expertise, while helping preserve skills needed for the UK’s own future defence capability.
The two Turkish pilots will now undergo up to nine months of conversion training with 29 Squadron, the RAF’s Typhoon Operational Conversion Unit.
They will initially learn the aircraft’s systems and the procedures required to operate within UK military airspace before taking to the skies on their first Typhoon sorties.
Once their conversion course is completed, they are expected to undertake a further three months of instructor training.
The pilots will then remain with 29 Squadron as instructors until Türkiye begins receiving its new aircraft from BAE Systems in 2030.
Group Captain Batu, Programme Director at the Türkiye Programme Management Office, said it had been an honour to welcome the first two pilots as they began their training alongside RAF personnel.
He said the pair were “extremely proud” to have been selected as Türkiye’s first Typhoon pilots.
Their arrival follows a wider training and support agreement signed earlier this year, under which 10 Turkish pilots and nearly 100 ground crew technicians are due to receive training in the UK.
Those technicians will cover areas including mechanical engineering, avionics, weapons and mission systems.
British industry will also provide spares, support equipment, simulators, electronic warfare capabilities and long-term maintenance support, involving companies including BAE Systems, Leonardo UK, MBDA, Rolls-Royce and Martin-Baker.
For Britain, the agreement is also another international endorsement of an aircraft which remains at the heart of RAF combat air power.
Typhoons stand ready around the clock as part of Britain’s Quick Reaction Alert system, protecting UK airspace, while aircraft have also been deployed on NATO air policing missions and operations against Daesh in Iraq and Syria.
The aircraft has now passed one million flying hours across the global Eurofighter fleet, with Türkiye set to become the tenth nation to operate the Typhoon.
The Turkish deal also has wider strategic significance for NATO.
Britain and Türkiye are both major members of the alliance, and the two countries signed a new Security and Defence Partnership at the NATO Summit in Ankara in July.
That agreement covers areas including deterrence and defence, military co-operation, defence technology, cyber security, counter-terrorism, resilience and space.
The Typhoon programme now provides another practical link between the two nations’ armed forces, with Turkish pilots learning alongside RAF personnel in Lincolnshire before eventually taking their experience home to operate their country’s new fleet.
But there is also a significant British industrial story behind the aircraft.
Nearly 6,000 jobs directly support the Typhoon programme at Warton and Samlesbury, more than 1,100 are supported in the South West, including work at Rolls-Royce in Bristol, and more than 800 are supported in Scotland, including Leonardo’s radar operations in Edinburgh.
From Lancashire engineering and Scottish radar technology to world-class jet-engine expertise in Bristol, the Typhoon showcases capabilities spread across the United Kingdom.
And now, pilots from a fellow NATO country have come to Britain to learn how to fly it.
For the RAF, Britain’s aerospace industry and the thousands of highly skilled men and women behind the Typhoon programme, it is another reminder that British engineering continues to command respect far beyond our shores.
Main Image: MOD Crown Copyright News / Editorial Licence.
