“According to the Spanish newspaper @larazon_es , 40 Typhoon jets, the first 20 of which will be second-hand from the UK and the other 20 of which will be newly produced, are expected to enter service with Meteor missiles between 2026 and 2030.”
Not what we hoped for but also it’s a known fact that TurAF definitely need aircraft right now.
Another news that contradicts the previous ones. Most recently Güler's statement saying they would all be new aircraft. Though recent history showed that his semi official remarks are hardly gospel.
I've said before that RAF T1s are not at the end of their service life and Brits are just too cash strapped to keep them flying and modernizing them. But, it's not even clear if these aircraft can be modernized in a realistic fashion. I really don't see the "give them to us and we'll make'em fly to the moon" angle working. These are aircraft we don't know and we have no experience with. Aselsan coming up with a mod package for these 20 aircraft in a shorter timeframe than a decade is a dream at best.
Some older but still very high performance aircraft compared to anything we have can still be good, if they are to be refurbished and deliveries to start quickly and if they come from RAF with Meteors. Per the newspaper:
"The first deliveries are expected to begin in 2026 and full operational capability is expected to be achieved by 2030."
First delivery to FOC in 4 years is good, but slower than what the Greeks achieved with second hand Rafales and new production airframes in 3 years. Of course we don't have the details, it's pretty light on them. There's no mention of refurbishment process in the UK, sale of spares, training of pilots, whether there would be a joint RAF/TurAF squadron etc.
Newspaper itself doesn't seem to be a defence publication, so we also cannot know if the claims are true. Maybe they are just regurgitating the previously stated claims.
Regardless, it's just better to wait and see without seeping much into guesswork. There's literally no official paper, no confirmation, no details of the sale yet. We are just tiring ourselves.