Turkey is purchasing the "Eurofighter Typhoon" while selling its domestically developed stealth fighter, the "Kawas", what's the strategy here?
Recently, a series of actions by Turkey in the international arms trade market have left people a bit confused. First, it signed a memorandum of understanding with the UK to introduce the "Eurofighter Typhoon" aircraft, planning to buy 40 of these fourth-generation-plus fighters developed jointly by four European countries, with a total cost estimated at around $5 to $5.6 billion. However, before people could react, it also sold the domestically developed fifth-generation stealth fighter "Kawas" to Indonesia at a price of $10 billion, buying 48 aircraft. This seems contradictory: buying fourth-generation-plus aircraft while selling fifth-generation ones. What's the real plan behind this?
From the perspective of Turkey's national defense needs, buying the "Eurofighter Typhoon" makes sense. At the beginning of the 21st century, Turkey was very active in the U.S. F-35 program, hoping to enhance its military strength. However, due to the purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system, it was severely sanctioned by the U.S., which completely disrupted its naval and air force development plans. Later, the U.S. also restricted Turkey's Air Force from upgrading F-16C/D aircraft and prohibited it from buying new planes, leading to a situation where Turkey couldn't upgrade its aviation system in the short term.
Faced with this situation, Turkey had to take a two-pronged approach. On one hand, it started the domestic fifth-generation fighter project "Kawas" as early as 2010, increasing investment to develop its own advanced fighter jets. On the other hand, it needed to import fourth-generation aircraft to replace its aging second- and third-generation aircraft and older fourth-generation aircraft. Being a NATO member, buying aircraft from NATO and its allies is relatively realistic.
The "Eurofighter Typhoon," one of the "European twins," naturally caught Turkey's attention. Introducing the "Eurofighter Typhoon" can quickly enhance the combat capability of the Turkish Air Force and solve the problem of insufficient combat capability of old aircraft in a short time. Moreover, with this aircraft, the Turkish Air Force can better integrate with the air forces of other NATO countries in terms of equipment and operational systems, thus enhancing its military status within NATO.
Now, let's talk about Turkey's sale of the "Kawas" fighter jet. Turkey clearly knows that its national defense budget is limited, and relying solely on domestic use cannot support the scale of the entire R&D and production platform for the "Kawas" fighter jet. Therefore, exporting fighter jets to foreign buyers is an inevitable choice. Especially in the Third World countries such as Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, there is a certain demand for advanced fighter jets, and some countries value technology transfer as an additional condition when purchasing fighter jets.
When Turkey made a deal with Indonesia, it promised to transfer technology, reduce long-term maintenance costs, and even produce the fighter jets together with Indonesia. For countries like Indonesia, this is very attractive. From this perspective, exporting the "Kawas" fighter jet can help Turkey share the R&D costs, promote the development of its domestic aerospace industry, and enhance Turkey's influence in the international arms trade market, which is indeed beneficial.
However, the "Kawas" fighter jet project has not gone smoothly. In key areas such as high-performance aviation engines and stealth materials, Turkey's capabilities are still far from sufficient. Due to U.S. sanctions, it also faces the risk of supply chain disruptions for many components. For example, although Turkey's TEI company obtained a production license for the U.S. F110-GE-129 engine, this license only allows it to assemble, test, and maintain the engine. Core high-tech components such as turbine blades and combustion chambers must be imported from the U.S. Now, with the U.S. no longer supplying them, the manufacturing of the "Kawas" fighter jet has encountered difficulties.
Turkey has tried several solutions, including self-research and external procurement. Its aerospace industry company stated that it will equip the "Kawas" with the domestically developed TF-35000 turbofan engine around 2032. However, developing an engine is not easy, and there are numerous challenges, making it impossible to achieve substantial breakthroughs in the short term. In this situation, some people speculate that Turkey's purchase of the "Eurofighter Typhoon" might be to obtain some engine-related technologies through clauses in the contract.
Previously, Turkey had discussed with Rolls-Royce, a British company, the possibility of jointly developing the "Kawas" engine, and also talked about the possibility of transferring engine technology with the four countries producing the "Eurofighter Typhoon." However, these countries were cautious about technology transfer and were reluctant to easily disclose it.
Looking at it this way, Turkey's approach of purchasing the "Eurofighter Typhoon" while selling the "Kawas" may seem contradictory, but there is actually a clear logic behind it. By purchasing the "Eurofighter Typhoon," Turkey can quickly enhance its air force capabilities and better integrate into NATO's operational system. Selling the "Kawas" fighter jet can open up markets for its domestic aerospace industry and share the R&D costs. At the same time, Turkey also hopes to gain key technologies, especially engine technology, through the "Kawas" project to address bottlenecks in its domestic aerospace industry. These series of operations are strategic attempts by Turkey to achieve military equipment autonomy and enhance its international influence under complex international situations and its own defense industrial development needs.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7536458973827826218/
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