Has Germany blocked another Typhoon export sale?
April 21, 2025
The German business newspaper Handelsblatt reported that the outgoing Scholz government had exercised its veto power over the Eurofighter sale in response to the arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu on corruption charges. The Times reported that the German federal economics ministry, which is responsible for export controls on arms sales, had neither confirmed nor denied the report, commenting only that: “The federal government makes decisions about the issuance of permits for arms exports … on a case by case basis and in the light of the situation in each instance, following careful deliberation and taking in considerations of foreign and security policy according to the legal and political requirements.”
Typhoon export campaigns are led by different partner nations, with sales to Turkey and Saudi Arabia being led by the UK.
In 2023, the German Government blocked a British sale of Typhoons to Saudi Arabia, citing the Kingdom’s involvement in the civil war in Yemen and the alleged assassination of the exiled journalist Jamal Khashoggi. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz dropped his objections to the deal after lobbying by then-British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
The UK was in the final stages of negotiation a contract for about 40 Eurofighter Typhoons, after a somewhat tortuous campaign. Early in the campaign, Germany had sought to block the sale, raising concerns that Turkey had delayed Sweden’s accession to NATO and that it had procured Russian S-400 air defence systems (the same issue that resulted in Turkey’s expulsion from the F-35 programme). Scholz lifted his objections to the sale during a trip to Istanbul in October 2023. Since then, there have been a series of high level contacts between the UK and Turkey, including THK senior officer visits to the UK MoD and RAF Coningsby, an RAF Typhoon visit to Turkey, and high level government and industry negotiations. John Healey, the defence secretary, recently visited his Turkish counterpart in Ankara.
The defence relationship between Germany and the UK has improved markedly in recent months, particularly following the signing of a bilateral security agreement at Trinity House in London last year.
This was before caretaker chancellor Olaf Scholz, condemned the arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu, calling it a “very, very bad sign” that was likely to depress future relations between the EU and Turkey. Britain has taken a more nuanced view, aware that Turkey is an increasingly indispensable NATO ally as well as a vitally important market for the aircraft, and one that could sustain important jobs and industrial capacity in the UK (and across the consortium) pending the full start of the GCAP and SCAF programmes.
If Germany has derailed the Typhoon sale to Turkey, this will reignite a long-running row over Typhoon sales to the Middle East, and will create major tensions between London and Berlin. Much will depend on the attitude and position of incoming Cancellor Friedrich Merz, who takes office in early May 2025.
