Küçükakyüz's visit coincided with the long-awaited United Kingdom visit of Professor İsmail Demir, President of Defence Industries. Demir is expected to visit the UK and bring up the cooperation opportunities for the TF-X and Tempest systems of the two countries. The United Kingdom, on the other hand, has been trying to sell Eurofighters to Turkey for a long time. Küçükakyüz visited the UK Quick Reaction Alert that flies with Typhoon aircraft.
Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ) receives support from BAE Systems in the TFX programme. Another UK partnership in the TF-X is about to work on the engine. It is aimed that Rolls Royce will provide engine technology support for the TF-X.
The UK has been looking for a market for the first generation Eurofighter (Typhoon in the UK) aircraft in its inventory for a while. Turkey is an important market for the UK. In fact, in November 2020, Royal Air Force Commander Marshal Sir Mike Wigston visited Ankara and Konya. Meanwhile, Eurofighter aircraft of the Royal Air Force had arrived in Konya for training purposes. It was stated that this visit could be a step towards Eurofighter sale.
Turkey's eyes are on Washington. The decision to sell 40 F-16 Block 70 aircraft will be submitted to US Congress in the coming months. The future of the package will also be a test of Turkey-US relations. If the business with the USA does not progress as expected, Turkey will evaluate the UK's Eurofighter offer more carefully as part of the urgent need.
The UK consortium for Tempest includes Sweden and Italy. Japan is looking forward to the partnership. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has invited India to the project in recent weeks.
