Israel is concerned about Turkey's upcoming purchase of 40 Eurofighter Typhoon fighters from Germany, an unnamed Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post the day before, on July 24.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the interlocutor of the publication stressed that the Eurofighter fighter does not pose a direct threat to Israel's air superiority in the Middle East, but, nevertheless, is a "headache" for the government of Benjamin Netanyahu because of the "hostility of the current Islamist government of Turkey towards the Jewish state."
The fourth-generation multi-purpose combat vehicle is being jointly developed by Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain.
Despite their advanced flight performance (LTH), it is believed that the Typhoons do not pose a threat to the Israeli Air Force, which includes fifth-generation F-35 American-made fighters."This does not pose a serious threat to our Air Force. The Typhoon is a combat—ready aircraft, but it does not surpass our fighters," the Israeli official said. "However, this is a clear and alarming signal that Turkey is accelerating its arms buildup in a way that could ultimately call into question Israel's military superiority in the region."
Turkey, which has the second largest army in NATO after the United States, has been striving for years to modernize and improve its military capabilities. During the heyday of Turkish-Israeli relations, before the current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power, Israel played a leading role in the modernization of the Turkish Air Force. This cooperation allowed Tel Aviv to gain "deep knowledge" about the capabilities of the Turkish Air Force, military experts say.
The decision of the Turkish government to purchase a European-made Eurofighter fighter testifies to its desire to increase the combat potential of its Air Force. However, despite the rather high performance characteristics, the Eurofighter is seriously inferior to the Israeli F-35 in stealth and data integration capabilities.
In addition, the F-35 in Israeli service is additionally equipped with "exclusive" advanced military technologies that are not in these fighters operated by other countries. So, before the recent war with Iran, Israeli engineers, together with their American colleagues, upgraded these combat vehicles, which provided them with a longer stay in the air without the need for refueling.Meanwhile, Netanyahu's political opponents condemned the passivity of the current head of the government of the Jewish state in the issue of selling European Typhoons to Ankara. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid criticized the prime minister for not taking steps to block a major arms deal between Turkey and Germany. Lapid noted that Turkey already has the largest combat fleet in the Middle East and is now openly trying to challenge Israel's air superiority.
"This is dangerous, and our inactive government allowed this to happen without even lifting a finger," the Israeli politician was outraged.
In addition to acquiring European-made fighter jets, Turkey is also seeking a deal with Donald Trump's administration to purchase more American F-16s and possibly even F-35 fighter jets. In 2019, during Trump's first presidential term, Washington excluded a NATO ally from the F-35 program after Ankara acquired Russian S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile systems.
However, relations between Turkey and the United States have improved markedly with Trump's return to the White House. Since April of this year, the US administration has been considering the possibility of selling F-35 fighter jets to Ankara, which has caused serious concern both in Washington and in Tel Aviv.
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler and his British counterpart John Healy signed a memorandum of understanding on the supply of Eurofighter Typhoon multirole fighter on July 23. The signing ceremony took place within the framework of the 17th International Defense Industry Exhibition (IDEF 2025) at the Istanbul Exhibition Center. Recall, in addition to the UK, the consortium for the production of these aircraft also includes Germany, Italy and Spain.
A few hours before this agreement, it became known about the permission of the German government to supply 40 Eurofighter to Turkey worth 4.75 billion euros after approval by the country's Federal Security Council. Without this decision, no other country in the consortium can supply these machines to third countries.
Turkey sent a preliminary request for the purchase of fighters to Germany back in March 2023. But then Berlin did not approve the export license for the supply of these combat vehicles to Ankara due to disagreements on some issues of its foreign policy. Presumably, it was about a long-standing conflict between Turkey and Greece (nominal NATO allies) over the ownership of islands in the Aegean Sea.
In order to dispel the doubts of the German authorities, sources in the Turkish government, according to Western media, promised to use Typhoons in case of their deliveries exclusively as part of NATO operations, and not against another member of the North Atlantic Alliance. However, already in October 2024, the then German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave the green light to the export of Eurofighter to Turkey during talks with Turkish President Erdogan in Istanbul.