Spain has finalized a 2.6 billion euros ($3.06 billion) agreement that covers a package of 30 units of Türkiye's advanced jet trainer and light combat aircraft Hürjet, a senior official announced on Monday.
The Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), the developer of Hürjet, and Airbus inked a cooperation accord in July as part of the negotiations for the procurement. The final deal marks the first foreign sale of the training jet.
Deliveries under the deal are scheduled to begin in 2028, Haluk Görgün, the head of the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB), said on Monday.
Görgün called the contract "historic" and said it's a "high-value-added and multi-dimensional defense industry export package."
In late October, the Spanish government authorized the procurement of a new system for modern fighter pilot training featuring a customized version of the supersonic aircraft.
Alongside Hürjet, the agreement also includes an integrated training architecture for advanced combat pilot training, ground-based simulation and training systems, maintenance and sustainment infrastructure and long-term operational support elements.
The Hürjet project was initiated by TAI in 2017. The first domestically developed jet trainer aircraft performed its maiden flight in April 2023.
It features a single-engine, tandem cockpit and modern avionics suite. It sought to replace the T-38 aircraft used for advanced jet training and the F-5 jet used in aerobatic displays within the Turkish Air Force inventory.
Hürjet is 13.6 meters long with a wingspan of 9.5 meters. Its maximum altitude is said to be 45,000 feet, and the jet features a 3,400-kilogram (7,500-pound) payload capacity and a maximum speed of Mach 1.4.
The fact that an aircraft designed and produced with national resources will enter the inventory of a European and NATO member country "clearly demonstrates the level our defense industry has reached in the fields of design, production, system integration, certification and sustainability," said Görgün.
"With Hürjet, our country has attained a structure that produces and exports high technology and has a voice in the global market in the field of air platforms, while our defense industry exports are being carried to a new threshold in terms of both quality and scale," he noted.
Türkiye's defense and aviation exports rose 30% year-over-year in the first 11 months of the year to nearly $7.45 billion, surpassing the full-year total of $7.2 billion seen in 2024.
The industry is now widely expected to reach and likely exceed $8 billion as of the end of the year. Officials previously said shipments would "easily" surpass that level, which would represent a more than 250% jump from $2.28 billion in 2020.
Years of investment have helped Türkiye evolve from a country heavily reliant on foreign defense systems to one where domestically developed platforms meet almost all of its needs.
For much of the past two decades, Ankara has expressed frustration over its Western allies' failure to provide adequate defense systems against missile threats despite Türkiye being a NATO member.
The transformation since the early 2000s has driven the development of a broad range of homegrown air, land and naval platforms, reducing foreign dependency from around 80% to below 20% today.
The capabilities of its defense platforms, led by its combat drones, helped it seal billions of dollars' worth of deals in recent years.
