- New contract strengthens 40-year strategic partnership between the two organizations
- Reinforces Türkiye’s growing role in the global defense and aerospace market
May 5, 2026 - İstanbul, Türkiye – GE Aerospace (NYSE:GE) and Turkish Aerospace (TA) today announced an agreement for GE Aerospace F404 engines to power HÜRJET aircraft. The agreement represents a significant defense milestone for the HÜRJET platform. The agreement also ensures continued technical and operational support for the HÜRJET program as it expands its footprint and advances future variants. The contract builds on Türkiye’s expanding defense and aerospace capabilities and reinforces GE Aerospace’s role as a trusted propulsion partner for advanced military aircraft programs.
Dr. Mehmet Demiroğlu, President and CEO of Turkish Aerospace, stated: “The HÜRJET Jet Trainer represents a significant forward-looking threshold for our aerospace and defense capabilities, and this agreement serves as a critical milestone for the program. Our long-standing collaboration with GE Aerospace continues to provide critical propulsion capabilities that support HÜRJET’s success as a modern, reliable, and competitive training platform. This agreement further reinforces our vision and industrial capabilities.”
“We are honored by the trust Turkish Aerospace places in GE Aerospace as a propulsion partner for advanced military aircraft and the growing momentum behind the HÜRJET program,” said Rita Flaherty, VP, Global Sales & BD for GE Aerospace Defense & Systems. “We are proud to support Turkish Aerospace as HÜRJET makes its mark on the global stage and to contribute to Türkiye’s continued rise as a key player in the defense and aerospace ecosystem.”
HÜRJET is powered by the GE Aerospace F404 engine, a combat-tested and highly reliable engine widely used in advanced trainer and fighter aircrafts around the world. The aircraft is designed to meet modern training requirements, offering advanced avionics, high performance, and operational flexibility for air forces seeking next-generation solutions. Sixteen nations have F404-powered aircraft in operation or on order, reflecting this turbofan engine’s position as one of the most versatile engines in its class and a proven engine of choice for air force applications around the globe.
TEI, a joint venture company between GE Aerospace and Turkish Aerospace established in 1985, is one of the region’s most successful aerospace partnerships. Building on this strong foundation, Turkish Aerospace has played a central role in evolving HÜRJET into a globally competitive advanced jet trainer platform. Two Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) signed at the Farnborough Airshow in 2024 and IDEF in 2025 laid the groundwork for this expanded cooperation and directly contributed to the signing of this contract.
GE Aerospace and Turkish Aerospace have been strategic partners for nearly four decades, dating back to F110 engines powering the Turkish Air Force’s F-16 fleet. Since then, the partnership has expanded across multiple aerospace and defense programs, including KAAN, powered by GE Aerospace F110 engines, and HÜRJET, powered by F404 engines.
GE Aerospace has been a committed partner to Türkiye for 60 years. With offices and facilities located in Istanbul, Ankara, and Gebze, GE Aerospace's more than 500 employees in Türkiye support an installed base of more than 3,100 commercial and defense engines across the country. The highly skilled engineers at the Türkiye Technology Center contribute to GE Aerospace’s global engineering work on new engine programs, software development, and additive manufacturing, supporting the country’s position as an advanced aerospace hub. TEI, GE Aerospace’s joint venture with Turkish Aerospace, is an important contributor to the global supply chain, manufacturing hundreds of engine components for GE Aerospace and partners.
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About Turkish Aerospace
Turkish Aerospace has an open area of 4 million sqm and a closed area of 710 thousand sqm in the design, development, modernization, production, integration and life cycle support processes of integrated aviation and space industry systems, from fixed and rotary wing air platforms to unmanned aerial vehicles and space systems. It continues to serve with a total of nearly 17,000 employees, 6,153 of whom are engineers. It is the technology center of Türkiye and among the global players in the aviation, space and defense industry.
About GE Aerospace
GE Aerospace is a global aerospace propulsion, services, and systems leader with an installed base of approximately 50,000 commercial and 30,000 military aircraft engines. With a global team of approximately 57,000 employees building on more than a century of innovation and learning, GE Aerospace is committed to inventing the future of flight, lifting people up, and bringing them home safely. Learn more about how GE Aerospace and its partners are defining flight for today, tomorrow, and the future at www.geaerospace.com.