TAI inks strategic partnership with Airbus for Hurjets for Spain

IDEF 2025 — Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and Airbus today inked a strategic partnership agreement at the International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF) in Istanbul, formalizing the collaboration on joint production of the Hurjet advanced jet trainer to meet “Spain’s jet trainer procurement needs,” according to a statement from TAI.

Spain is in negotiations to procure 30 Hurjet aircraft, and TAI CEO Mehmet Demiroğlu told Breaking Defense he expected the deal to be sealed before the end of the year, with delivery to begin by 2028.

“We have been working on this project almost a year now,” he said.

There are two phases of the procurement of joint production program, according to Demiroğlu.

The first phase “is similar configuration, or same configuration, [to the one] that will be delivered to Turkish Air Force, and it will be ready to use. So Spain Air Force will receive those and start using right away, because that’s the fastest way to address their needs in ’28 so number of them, between 15 to 20, will be delivered and [they will] start using it.

The second phase, however, is a bit more complicated as it will involve the Spanish production of some parts of the aircraft. Demiroğlu said that opening a production line in Spain for the full production is not going to be feasible.

“There are a number of options, depending on which one is going to be selected. It has a cost effect. It has a time effect. So we are diligently working on that. But avionic and control parts” are expected to be produced in Spain, he said, though the exact subsystems to be produced by Spanish firms have yet to be determined.

“The second phase will [take place] by the time all the modification and testing and adaptation of the Spain subsystems will be done and we will start integrating those into Hurjet in Spain,” he said. “At the end of this phase, all aircrafts will be using the selected subsystems from Spain. So it will have a supplemental type certificate for Spain configuration.”

TAI is also looking to export the Hurjet to other NATO countries and allies.

Other Moves For TAI

Elsewhere at IDEF, Demiroğlu spoke of TAI’s fifth-generation fighter jet, KAAN. Last month, the Indonesian air force ordered 48 KAAN fighter jets, a move which served as a confidence boost he said.

Further, Demiroğlu said he expects the Turkish air force to order 100 KAAN jets which “will boost, or will change positively the view of other countries who are thinking the fifth-generation aircraft for their air forces.”

He added that countries in the Arabian Gulf and Asia are interested also in procuring KAAN fighter jets, but didn’t specify the nations.

Demiroğlu also spoke to Breaking Defense about its position in a reported competition for a satellite deal for Azerbaijan worth $800 million.

“We are one of the four companies. We are collaborating with Aselsan here and we are confident that we’ll give the best offer, because we have done this many times. We have a very good relationship with Azerbaijan,” he said.

Overall, when asked about his company’s five-year plan, he said, “our number one job is to deliver with cost, competitive products with a high quality in time.”

“In five years, we will be manufacturing and delivering so many products, so many aircrafts that we [have] never produced before, that’s a big challenge itself,” he added assuring that the platforms he expects to deliver range from helicopters, to fifth and sixth fighter jets, to unmanned systems.