ISTANBUL (Dispatches) -- 
Turkey has agreed to buy 20 Eurofighter Typhoons from Britain for £8 billion ($10.7 billion), as Ankara said it was also seeking 24 jets from Persian Gulf states to bolster its air defense.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, on his first visit to Turkey since taking office last year, signed the deal with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and called it a “landmark moment”. Erdogan said joint defense industry projects could follow.
Turkey wants the warplanes to make up ground with regional rivals such as Israel, which has unleashed strikes across the Middle East this year.
Europe, meanwhile, has increasingly turned to Turkey, NATO’s second-largest military and a major exporter of armed drones, to reinforce its eastern flank and support any potential future post-war stabilization force in Ukraine.
The defense ministry said Turkey plans to buy 12 Typhoons each from Oman and Qatar.
London said Ankara would receive the first of the 20 Typhoons in 2030. Starmer said the deal, for which talks began in 2023, included an option to buy more.
Istanbul-based security and defense analyst Burak Yildirim called the £8 billion price tag “outrageously high” and “unprecedented”, even if it includes options, ammunition, spare parts and training.
“They’re selling planes at frigate prices,” Yildirim said. “You can’t have a combat jet for £400 million. They’re selling one plane for the price of four.”
The sides did not give details on what, beyond the planes, was included in the deal.
In July, Turkey and Britain signed a preliminary purchase deal for up to 40 Typhoons approved by Eurofighter consortium members including Germany, Italy and Spain, represented by Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo.
Last week Erdoğan visited Qatar and Oman in part to discuss the plan.
Turkey, which is enjoying its warmest ties with the West in years, has sought to procure the Eurofighters and also potentially U.S.-made F-35s to support its ageing fleet of mostly F-16s.
It wants to fill a gap before its own Kaan fighters are ready in the coming years. Last year it secured a $7 billion deal with Washington for 40 F-16s that have faced delays.