Struggling Eurofighter Program Needs Exports to Survive as F-35A Takes Over UK and German Markets

The British Ministry of Defence has announced that it is actively supporting efforts to export the Eurofighter combat jet, as part of efforts by the country’s leading defence manufacturer BAE systems to keep a production line for the aircraft open in Warton. Emphasising the importance of the aircraft to British industry, Defence Minister Maria Eagle observed: “The Typhoon programme supports more than 20,000 jobs across all regions of the UK, with an estimated 9,000 jobs in North-West England alone… Thanks to the hard-fought industrial workshare agreement, 37 percent of all nations’ Typhoons are made in the UK, with major unit production occurring at BAE Systems sites in Salmesbury and Warton.” With expectations for further orders to equip the British Royal Air Force having been disappointed, she stressed that exports were vital to sustaining production.

“Due to new aircraft orders placed by other nations, and the UK’s continued investment to upgrade and sustain our Typhoons, the vast majority of these jobs are already secured,” Warton observed, adding that the aircraft “will remain a critical Combat Aircraft for the UK until at least 2040. UK investment to upgrade and sustain the UK’s Typhoon fleet will support jobs at BAE Systems sites, particularly at Warton, and strengthen the UK’s prospective Typhoon export campaigns.” She highlighted Turkey and Saudi Arabia as the two leading clients to which the aircraft is being marketed. The Ministry of Defence confirmed in November 2024 that it would not make further procurements of the Eurofighter, and seven months later that the F-35A fifth generation fighter had been selected to equip the Royal Air Force.

Turkey’s eviction from the F-35 program is considered to have provided an opportunity for the Eurofighter and other less competitive non-U.S. Aircraft to gain their first major non-U.S. export orders. European fighters such as the Eurofighter and its French rival the Rafale have heavily focused on marketing to countries which, for political reasons, are unable to procure the F-35, with the Rafale having consistently proven more competitive in these markets. Poor relations between Turkey and France, however, provides a rare case where neither of the Eurofighter’s two primary rivals are being offered.

Since entering service in 2003, the Eurofighter has increasingly been considered a failure on global export markets, and other than a small sale of 15 fighters to Austria in 2003, it has failed to gain any non-program clients outside the Arab Gulf region. The program has recently multiple successive losses in tenders across Europe when bidding against the F-35 for major contracts, with major recent losses having included Belgium, Poland, Finland and Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Although all selected the F-35 due to its significantly superior fifth generation capabilities, the Eurofighter was also frequently considered behind other fourth generation competitors, in particular the American F-18E/F Super Hornet. While the United Kingdom and Germany were expected to provide a secure client base as the program’s two primary developers, the F-35A was selected over the Eurofighter by the former in 2025, and by the latter three years prior. The outbreak of full scale hostilities between Russia and Ukraine were seen to have led both countries to prioritise the superior combat capabilities provided by the F-35A over the greater industrial benefits provided by acquiring the indigenous Eurofighter.