Where HÜRJET Fits in the Advanced Jet Trainer Market

HÜRJET competes in the supersonic-capable advanced jet trainer and light attack class, alongside Leonardo’s M-346, Korea Aerospace Industries’ T-50/FA-50 family and Boeing’s T-7A Red Hawk. Its position in that market is unusual: Türkiye’s own air force has not yet taken delivery of a single production aircraft, but Spain has already contracted for 30. Turkish Aerospace won that contract not by beating rivals on flight performance, but by agreeing to supply the airframe into a training system primed, adapted and largely built by European industry. That trade — platform in, prime contractor role out — is what defines HÜRJET’s commercial position today.

The class HÜRJET is actually competing in

Advanced jet trainers are not a single market. At the bottom sit turboprop and light jet trainers. At the top sit lead-in fighter trainers: jets fast enough, and instrumented well enough, to teach the last stage before a pilot converts onto a frontline fighter. HÜRJET was designed for the top of that band. Turkish Aerospace lists a maximum speed of Mach 1.4, a 45,000 ft service ceiling, 1,060 nm range, +8g/-3g limits and a 7,500 lb external payload.

Those numbers put it in the same conversation as the M-346 and the T-50. They do not, by themselves, win contracts. Trainer competitions are decided on the cost of an hour of training, on how well the aircraft plugs into simulators and ground-based systems, on delivery dates, and — increasingly — on how much of the work stays in the buyer’s country. The aircraft is one line item in a training system procurement.

That distinction matters for reading HÜRJET’s prospects. Turkish Aerospace is not selling a better jet than Leonardo or KAI. It is selling a jet that arrives with fewer strings on who gets to build and own the system around it.

The replacement wave that created the opening

A generation of trainers is running out of airframe life at the same time. Türkiye still flies roughly 68 T-38 Talons of 1960s vintage. Spain retired its Northrop F-5Ms after half a century. The UK confirmed early retirement of the Hawk T2 and set a 2030 sundown date for the Red Arrows’ Hawk T1. Several NATO and Gulf air forces face similar arithmetic.

Two things make this wave different from previous ones. First, the aircraft the students graduate onto are harder: sensor-fused, data-linked fifth- and sixth-generation types. Air forces buying trainers today are buying for F-35, GCAP and, in Türkiye’s case, the KAAN fighter programme. Second, the incumbent Western supplier base is either committed elsewhere or behind schedule.

Boeing’s T-7A Red Hawk illustrates the point. The US Air Force approved Milestone C in April 2026, clearing the type for low-rate initial production with an initial lot of 14 aircraft. But the US Government Accountability Office has recorded significant developmental test delays, and the full-rate production decision has slipped two years to 2029 against a programme of record of 351 aircraft. A supplier absorbed by a 351-aircraft domestic backlog and a shifting schedule is not aggressively chasing 30-aircraft export deals.

What Spain’s contract actually bought

Spain’s Integrated Training System–Combat (ITS-C) programme is the single most informative data point about HÜRJET’s market position, and it is widely misreported. Two separate numbers circulate, and they measure different things.

Roughly fifteen Spanish companies are named in the industrial package — among them Indra, Sener, GMV, Aciturri, Aernnova, CESA, Amper and Grupo Oesía — with Spanish industrial participation reported at around 60 per cent. Airbus Defence and Space España is the national coordinator and prime contractor. Turkish Aerospace supplies airframes.

Read commercially, Türkiye accepted a subordinate industrial role in exchange for market access it could not have obtained as a prime contractor. No NATO air force was going to hand a first-of-type training system to an unproven Turkish prime. Handing it to Airbus, with the Turkish jet inside, removed that objection. It is a genuinely different export model from the one Turkish industry used with drones, where Baykar sells complete systems under its own name — the approach examined in our analysis of why countries buy Turkish drones.

The competitive field, compared honestly

The four aircraft below overlap but do not do the same job in the same way. Two are primarily trainers with a secondary attack fit; one is effectively a light fighter that also trains; one is a domestic US programme with limited export bandwidth for now.

Three of the four aircraft in that table share the same engine family. The F404 is the standard powerplant of this class, which removes performance as a differentiator and pushes competitions toward system integration, price and industrial terms. A spec-by-spec technical comparison of the two aircraft most often set against each other is available in Envanter Medya’s Turkish-language technical comparison of HÜRJET and the M-346.

The price question, and why the published figures mislead

Spanish commentators calculated a unit cost of roughly €69m per aircraft by dividing the €3.12bn ceiling by 45 airframes, or about €104m by dividing it by the 30 actually contracted. Both figures were then compared against European fighter prices, unfavourably.

That comparison does not hold. The €3.12bn is an authorisation ceiling for an entire training system through 2035: airframes, a Spanish conversion programme that rebuilds the avionics and mission systems, two mission simulators, VR training, a rebuilt school at Talavera la Real, a new conversion centre, and a decade of support. Very little published trainer pricing is measured that way.

For comparison on a narrower basis: Poland bought four M-346s in 2018 for €115m, about €28.75m each; Malaysia’s 2023 contract for 18 FA-50M aircraft was worth about $920m, roughly $51m each with support. Independent industry estimates place a HÜRJET flyaway cost in the $25–30m range, but Turkish Aerospace has not disclosed an official unit price, and no published figure should be treated as one. Envanter Medya has assembled the available Turkish-language reporting on HÜRJET pricing and cost estimates; none of it originates with the manufacturer.

Where HÜRJET is weakest

No service record. Not one HÜRJET has been delivered to an operator. The M-346 and T-50 have accumulated hundreds of thousands of flight hours, and the T-50 family has combat use in the Philippines. Availability rates, maintenance costs and cost per flight hour — the numbers that actually determine a trainer’s value — do not yet exist for HÜRJET in any published, operator-verified form.

Engine dependency. The F404 is American. Any HÜRJET export requires US export licensing, which the Spanish programme implies is workable for NATO customers, though neither government has published the licensing detail. Türkiye’s mitigation is real but partial: a July 2024 memorandum between Turkish Aerospace, GE Aerospace and TEI covers F404 assembly in Türkiye, and TEI is developing the TEI-TF10000 afterburning turbofan. That engine is rated at roughly 6,000 lbf dry and 10,000 lbf with afterburner — well short of the F404’s 17,700 lbf — and TEI describes it as a stepping stone toward the TF35000 for KAAN, with first afterburner ignition testing targeted for late 2027. No Turkish engine in the F404’s thrust class has been announced as a HÜRJET replacement with a date attached. Claims that HÜRJET will shortly fly on a domestic engine are not supported by the published programme.

Schedule. TUSAŞ’s own product page still lists series delivery to the Turkish Air Force in 2026; statements around the first production-configuration aircraft’s flight on 30 August 2026 point to deliveries beginning in 2027. That is modest slippage by the standards of combat aircraft programmes, but a prospective customer should price it in rather than assume the earliest published date.

Production capacity. Three airframes have flown. Turkish Aerospace must now deliver a domestic batch and 30 Spanish aircraft from 2028 while running the T625 GÖKBEY helicopter, KAAN and other lines. Rate production is the unproven step, and it is where trainer programmes most often disappoint.

Which competitions are realistically contestable

The United Kingdom issued a request for information on 8 August 2026 covering replacement of the Hawk T1 and T2 and the Red Arrows fleet. Reported contenders include the T-7, Leonardo’s M-345 and M-346, the T-50 and HÜRJET. Turkish Aerospace executives have said publicly that they are watching the requirement.

The realistic assessment is that HÜRJET starts behind there. The RFI calls for significant UK workshare, and BAE Systems — the partner that would most plausibly have carried a Turkish bid — has aligned with Boeing and Saab on the T-7. Without a UK prime, HÜRJET lacks the mechanism that won Spain.

The more contestable ground is elsewhere: air forces replacing F-5s, Alpha Jets, L-39s and early Hawks that want domestic assembly or local industrial content, and that are not bound to a US or Korean government-to-government route. Turkish Aerospace has said it expects growth in rotary-wing and trainer aircraft exports, and trainer campaigns follow a slow rhythm — an RFI in one year typically produces a contract three to five years later.

What comes next

Three milestones will determine whether HÜRJET’s market position strengthens or stalls. The first is delivery of the initial Turkish Air Force batch, expected from 2027; a trainer that its own air force has not accepted is hard to sell. The second is the 2028 start of Spanish deliveries on schedule and at rate. The third is the Spanish conversion programme from 2031, because SAETA II is where the aircraft’s mission systems get rebuilt to a European standard — and a HÜRJET with proven Airbus-integrated avionics is a materially different export product from today’s.

Turkish Aerospace has also flagged further variants, including the light combat configuration. Projected production volumes circulating in the trade press are industry projections rather than contracted quantities, and should be read as such.

FAQ

Is HÜRJET a fighter jet?

No. It is an advanced jet trainer with a light attack capability. Turkish Aerospace lists its roles as advanced training, introduction to fighter fundamentals, adversary (“red air”) flying and aerobatic display. A light combat variant is offered, but that is a secondary configuration, not a fighter in the sense of KAAN or the F-16.

Which countries have ordered HÜRJET?

Two. Türkiye, with reported orders of 12 to 16 aircraft across initial production blocks, and Spain, which signed on 30 December 2025 for 30 aircraft as part of its ITS-C programme. Spain’s authorisation covers up to 45 aircraft, but only 30 are contracted.

How much does a HÜRJET cost?

Turkish Aerospace has not published a unit price. Industry estimates suggest $25–30m flyaway, but these are estimates and no manufacturer figure confirms them. Spanish programme figures of €69m or €104m per aircraft are arrived at by dividing a whole training system budget by airframe count and do not represent aircraft cost.

Does HÜRJET use a Turkish engine?

No. It flies with the American General Electric F404-GE-104. TEI is developing the TEI-TF10000 afterburning turbofan, but at roughly 10,000 lbf with afterburner it is well below the F404’s thrust class, and no Turkish engine has been announced as a HÜRJET replacement with a delivery date.

Is HÜRJET better than the M-346 or FA-50?

They are not directly interchangeable. The FA-50 is closer to a light fighter and carries a heavier combat mission. The M-346 is the established NATO training incumbent with a mature simulator and training-service ecosystem. HÜRJET is the newest of the three, is supersonic-capable where the M-346 is not, and competes primarily on industrial terms and price flexibility rather than maturity.

Why did Spain choose a Turkish trainer over European options?

Spain did not buy an off-the-shelf aircraft. It bought a training system primed by Airbus Defence and Space España with roughly 60 per cent Spanish industrial participation, a national conversion centre and a Spanish-configured aircraft. Turkish Aerospace was willing to supply the platform on those terms. The published record shows the industrial structure was central to the decision.

When will HÜRJET enter service?

No air force operates it yet. Turkish Air Force deliveries are expected from 2027, Spanish baseline deliveries from 2028, and fully converted Spanish SAETA II aircraft between the second half of 2031 and 2035.

Update, September 6, 2026: a UK evaluation pilot flies HÜRJET

Turkish defence outlets, including SavunmaSanayiST, reported this week that Ascent Flight Training — the consortium that runs the UK Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) for the Ministry of Defence — sent a pilot to TUSAŞ’s Akyurt facility near Ankara to fly HÜRJET as part of its search for a Hawk T1/T2 successor. The pilot named in the reports, Gary Clark, flew the F-35B with the Royal Navy for nearly six years and received the Fleet Air Arm’s Queen Elizabeth Sword in September 2025 for his work developing F-35B deployment procedures aboard the UK’s Queen Elizabeth-class carriers.

Neither TUSAŞ nor Ascent Flight Training had issued a public statement on the visit at the time of writing, so the details — including what, specifically, Clark evaluated — rest on Turkish media sourcing rather than an official readout. Turkish reports place the stop within a wider Ascent tour that has already taken in Leonardo’s M-346 in Italy and Korea Aerospace Industries’ T-50 in South Korea, with Pilatus’s PC-21 reportedly still to come in Switzerland. No source has indicated a decision, shortlist or order; the UK has not closed its Hawk-replacement requirement, and HÜRJET remains one candidate among several, alongside the M-346 and the Boeing/Saab T-7A.

Sources

• Turkish Aerospace, HÜRJET product page — specifications and programme status
• Airbus, “Airbus to lead Spain’s new combat training system”, December 2025
• Infodefensa, Council of Ministers authorisation of up to 45 aircraft for €3.12bn, October 2025, and SAETA II designation and industrial participation
• FlightGlobal reported the SAETA II service name, the 21-aircraft first tranche and Turkish Aerospace’s interest in the UK requirement
• Boeing, “T-7A Red Hawk cleared for low-rate initial production”, May 2026; US GAO on the full-rate production slip to 2029
• Leonardo, ITPS Canada M-346T Block 20 order, May 2026
• TEI, TEI-TF10000 turbofan engine
• The Aviationist, “UK Releases RFI for New Jet Trainer and Red Arrows Aircraft”, August 2026
• Turkish media reporting (SavunmaSanayiST and other Turkish outlets), September 2026, on the Ascent Flight Training evaluation visit — unconfirmed by TUSAŞ or Ascent Flight Training