TR Air-Force EF Typhoon

[Spitfire9]

@Nutuk What if Kaan engine development has issues and they delay it for a few years… You have to think in the long term and in the worst-case scenario. Those Eurofighters would be a good stopgap and an insurance policy if things goes bad. The Air Force would at least have something if anything bad happens.

Very expensive but offering greater capability while covering Turkiye against KAAN project delay or engine supply problems - US or indigenous. Eurofighter failed to get organised on AESA radar for many years. Will Turkiye's Typhoons use the European Common Radar System (ECRS) Mk2 version, reported to be outstandingly good?

 

[uçuyorum]

@Nutuk you are being reductive here. There's definitely info on EF performance from exercises and we have been in them, seen them side by side including with rafales. So we know their performance when buying them. It's also the only aircraft we could really acquire that's up to date and high end, but other countries program evaluations also corroborate it's performance vs gripen and rafale. Qatar EF are likely to arrive WHEN WE HAVE PILOTS READY FOR THEM. I explained this point but you seem to be ignoring it. And we just have to have an AESA equipped capable fighter. Because with Block 50 you might as well not have any fighters.

 

[Pokemonte13]

Good luck achieving this with Hürjet LCA

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Eurofighter still can't use JDAM though

 

[BalkanTurk90]

Yep that is the only hope left.

EF against whom do we need it?
Iran? No need
Israel? insufficient
Greece? Well that's a bummer to buy aircraft from the EU to use against an EU member, good luck with that! We give them a reason not to deliver them at all, just like the UK did not deliver our ships in WW1


I don't know, hope indeed that our leadership has very valid reasons that no one else can see

EF the most nonsense puchase Türkiye did for years , İts non steathy jet and our major opponents like israel , greece can easy spot it ,
Second , it will be active around 2030/31 when our own steath jet KAAN aslo will became active duty
İ think the puchace is pure heo-political agreement with UK support agaist france greece and israel in mediterian , if something happens UK will stay out or even support us because of 10 billion+ pounds we sent to them

 

[Yasar_TR]

Eurofighter still can't use JDAM though

I am not a fan of JDAM to be honest. A range of 28km means you have to bring your fighter jets in to enemy AD areas to deploy them, unless you release them from IWBs of KE or Anka-3.
Since we will have access to relevant source codesl we can easily integrate HGK and KGK MK series smart bombs on to Typhoons.

Re: the capability of Typhoon.
You just need to listen to the British pilot who flew Harriers, F16s and Typhoons. He says after f16, flying a Typhoon was like an f16 with 3 engines. Much higher altitude flight capability with a lot of power behind you.
I have watched f16 (solo Türk) and Typhoon in many air shows. The manoeuvrability of typhoon and the vertical climb ability is something else. We have a saying in Turkish : “Görünen köye kılavuz gerekmez”. (No need for a guide to find the village you can see). 613 typhoons delivered so far. Plus 147 new orders. Twin engines in war setting giving you more than 30000lbf military (dry) thrust. Continuous military thrust of 27000lbf allowing you to have at high altitude, 1.5mach supercruise capability. With ECRSMK2 radar it is the best 4.5 generation fighter jet in the west.

Hurjet prototypes have been flying for sometime now. But they still can’t do those acrobatic moves we are expecting from them. New prototypes are coming. And with them the capability to do acrobatic moves. But it takes time to safely incorporate all those flight moves in to the airframe.
Kaan will go through these paces as well. It is not just a matter of serial production. But accrediting the planes for safe fleet usage fully capable of flying like a jet fighter should fly. If there are delays, (and yes there are going to be) like even now. Then we need to cover ourselves. According to first statement of Demiroglu, Kaan P01 should have flown end of 2024, then early 2025. We are still waiting.

The state, having had their hands burnt badly with Altay, are now preparing for all eventualities to cover themselves.
Yes, the typhoons are very expensive. But they are the only ones that fit for our situation.

 

[MonteCarlo]

EF the most nonsense puchase Türkiye did for years , İts non steathy jet and our major opponents like israel , greece can easy spot it ,
Second , it will be active around 2030/31 when our own steath jet KAAN aslo will became active duty
İ think the puchace is pure heo-political agreement with UK support agaist france greece and israel in mediterian , if something happens UK will stay out or even support us because of 10 billion+ pounds we sent to them

Just because Greece is buying 20 F-35s, every non-stealth fighter in the region does not suddenly become obsolete. 99% of the sorties will still be flown by non-stealth fighters. Eurofighter provides immaculate kinematic performance that no other fighter bar the F-22 can match, which is very valuable for interceptions.


But I do agree that we need them way before 2030

 

[Samba]

Based on which assumption? I do not remember EF successes in major battles. Yes EF did some bombings over Iraq and Afganistan in coalition partner missions. But bombings are common for any fighter jet, nothing special.

When was the last time an EF shot another fighter jet out of the sky?

Eurofighter combat record:
No air-to-air combat against manned aircraft to date; has shot down several hostile drones (2024–26)

2011 Libya UK/Italy air to ground strike and reconnaissance only
2015 - 19 anti ISIS UK Precision air to ground strikes; no air to air combat
2024 - 25 drone defense UK destroyed several Iranian / Houthi drones


Sorry but EF combat record is very meager to say it will be better than the Kaan. I am not saying that it is a bad aircraft, maybe it did not get the chance to proof herself but everything points to that it is not worth the amount of resources we pour into this 4th generation jet while the rest of the world is pursuing 5th and 6th generation.

You know cutting edge tech fighter, one of its kind, decades old, best fighter to date F22 has one and only air2air record which is against a balloon

 

[Nutuk]

Every opinion counts, I see also what proponents of the EF see. But do not just tip away the Hurjet LCA as useless because pairing of Kizilelma with the Italian M-346 have begun.

We could match LCA with Kizilelma and we could even finance and quicken to build twin engine Kizilelma that can achieve same speeds as EF.


We are in a unique position with Kizilelma, ANKA-3 (ANKA-4 in development) and Kaan. Yet we choose to throw and bind a big amount of funds for a 4th generation fighter jet in which we have zero input. It hurts to see such a step back