IN Brief:
- The first two Turkish pilots have entered Typhoon conversion training with 29 Squadron at RAF Coningsby.
- Conversion training can take nine months, followed by three months of instructor preparation before planned aircraft deliveries from 2030.
- Türkiye’s £8 billion programme covers 20 aircraft alongside weapons, training, support, spares, and long-term maintenance capability.
Two Turkish Air Force combat pilots have begun Eurofighter Typhoon conversion training with 29 Squadron at RAF Coningsby, opening the flying and instructional phase of Türkiye’s £8 billion acquisition of 20 new aircraft. The pilots are the first Turkish personnel to enter the Typhoon conversion pipeline under a wider package covering aircraft, weapons, support, training, spares, and long-term maintenance preparation.
The conversion course is expected to take up to nine months, followed by a further three months of instructor training. After qualifying, the pilots are due to remain with 29 Squadron as instructors until Türkiye receives its first new aircraft from BAE Systems in 2030. The arrangement gives Türkiye an instructor cadre familiar with RAF operating procedures before aircraft begin arriving in national service.
Group Captain Batu, Programme Director at the Türkiye Programme Management Office, said: “They will spend the initial weeks of training learning Typhoon systems, and the procedures used in UK military airspace before they launch on their first sortie.” Training is being conducted at the RAF’s Typhoon Operational Conversion Unit, where experienced fast-jet pilots progress through aircraft systems, handling, tactics, mission procedures, and operating requirements.
The pilot programme forms one element of a broader support agreement between the UK and Türkiye. A follow-on arrangement signed in March covers training for ten Turkish pilots and nearly 100 ground crew technicians across mechanical, avionics, weapons, and mission system disciplines. It also includes spares, support equipment, simulators, engineering and pilot training, maintenance preparation, and electronic warfare capability.
Introducing a new combat aircraft requires those systems to mature in parallel with the airframes. Aircraft availability depends on technicians, calibrated test equipment, software support, repair routes, spares forecasting, engine maintenance, weapons handling, mission data, and a training pipeline able to generate replacement personnel. Starting the conversion process several years before first delivery gives crews time to build aircraft knowledge while logistics and maintenance arrangements are developed alongside production.
Ground personnel face a similar preparation cycle. Technicians need controlled maintenance data, diagnostic procedures, software tools, specialist equipment, and experience of component removal and installation before a Turkish-based fleet begins routine flying. Early training also exposes gaps in documentation, tooling, and supply processes while there is still time to resolve them before aircraft availability depends on those systems.
Manufacturing is already distributed across the UK and other Eurofighter partner nations. The UK workshare is 37% of each aircraft, with final production and assembly at BAE Systems sites in Warton and Samlesbury, Rolls-Royce producing key EJ200 engine modules and supporting engines from Bristol, and Leonardo manufacturing radar equipment in Edinburgh. The Turkish programme is expected to support around 20,000 UK jobs across the wider Typhoon industrial base.
The order also extends the production horizon for a platform built around specialist European manufacturing capacity. Typhoon brings together major aerostructures, flight control equipment, radar, electronic warfare, engines, weapons integration, mission software, and final assembly across several partner nations. Maintaining production preserves supplier capability and skilled labour while future combat aircraft programmes continue through development.
The initial Turkish training cadre will provide an early connection between that production system and the eventual operator. Pilots can identify simulator, mission planning, documentation, and procedural requirements before aircraft arrive, while technicians can begin learning maintenance and fault isolation against the same baseline used by the RAF. Turkish national infrastructure and procedures will still be required, but the transition begins with personnel already familiar with the aircraft and its support system.
The first two pilots represent a small part of an acquisition measured in billions of pounds, but their training starts a four-year preparation cycle before planned deliveries in 2030. Aircraft manufacture, weapons, simulators, maintenance infrastructure, spares, ground crew preparation, and pilot qualification now have to converge on the same timetable if the first Turkish Typhoons are to arrive with a functioning support organisation already in place.
