ANKARA - Turkey appears to be leaning heavily towards the EJ200 engine from European engine consortium Eurojet for its Indigenous Fighter Program after a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on January 20 between the country's leading defense company, Aselsan, and Eurojet. Turkey has set out the goal of designing, developing, producing and introducing into Turkish armed forces service an indigenous new-generation fighter jet (dubbed the TF-X) as a means of weaning itself off dependence on U.S. and Western-ally technologies for its fighter solutions.
At a meeting of Turkey's top decision-making body for defense procurement, the Defense Industry Executive Committee (SSIK), on January 7, government and military leaders agreed to forge ahead with the project, labeling it a priority. The new fighter will serve as a replacement for the Turkish Air Force's aging F-4E Phantoms. The product will be 100 percent local, but include technological support from foreign vendors. The MoU opens the door to collaboration on projects between Aselsan and Eurojet relating to the EJ200 engine.