Prime Minister, Theresa May, has signed a deal with her Turkish counterpart, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to develop fighter jets for the Turkish military.
The announcement was made as Mrs May met with Turkey’s President in Ankara at the weekend.
BAE Systems and TAI (Turkish Aerospace Industries) will collaborate in the first development phase on the TF-X Turkish fighter programme.
Although the £100M agreement might not appear too significant in the bigger economic picture, it is envisaged it could provide a stepping-stone in building a long-term link up that would see the UK becoming Turkey’s main defence provider.
Mrs May commented: “This agreement underlines once again that Britain is a great, global trading nation and that we are open for business.
“It marks the start of a new and deeper trading relationship with Turkey and will potentially secure British and Turkish jobs and prosperity for decades to come.”
BAE Systems Chief Executive, Ian King, described the agreement as the next step in strengthening defensive ties between the two nations.
He said: “The announcement signals an exciting next step in relations between both Turkey and the UK with the co-operation between BAE Systems and TAI paving the way for a deeper defence partnership. The agreement confirms ongoing collaborative work on the design and development of the aircraft.”
The deal will see hundreds of Turkish and British engineers working on the programme at its peak.
photo © Charlie Bard / Shutterstock, Inc.
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BAE Systems Defence TAI TF-X Turkey
Post written by: Matt Brown
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