South Korea Joins HÜRJET’s Supply Chain: Kencoa to Build Parts for 27 Jets Tied to Spain’s Order
South Korean aerospace supplier Kencoa Aerospace has signed a contract with Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ) to supply 34 types of machined structural parts used in the airframe of the HÜRJET advanced jet trainer. The agreement covers deliveries between 2026 and 2028 in quantities sufficient for 27 aircraft, though the contract's financial value was not disclosed.
Kencoa's entry into the supply chain follows directly from HÜRJET's growing order book. TUSAŞ needs to scale production to cover both the Turkish Air Force's own HÜRJET fleet and Spain's 30-aircraft order, finalized in late 2025. Bringing in a foreign structural supplier at this stage reflects the natural transition of a program moving from prototype work into serial production.
Spanish defense media framed the deal explicitly around Madrid's own purchase. Infodefensa's September 26 report linked Kencoa's South Korean production line directly to "the Turkish supersonic trainer Spain has bought." Spain's contract, worth 2.6 billion euros and signed through a joint venture between TUSAŞ and Airbus Defence and Space, calls for deliveries to begin in 2028-2029, with conversion work running from the second half of 2031 through 2035. Under that plan, the first two aircraft would be converted at Airbus's Getafe facility, with the remaining 28 processed at a new conversion center to be established in Spain.
HÜRJET's industrial structure is increasingly that of a multinational supply network rather than a single-prime program. Spanish industrial participation is projected at roughly 60 percent, with more than 16 Spanish companies expected to contribute avionics, mission systems and training simulators. Adding a South Korean structural supplier to that picture signals that TUSAŞ is positioning HÜRJET as an export-oriented platform open to international subcontractors, not solely a national program.
On the technical side, the first production-standard HÜRJET for the Turkish Air Force completed its maiden flight on August 30, remaining airborne for 18 minutes alongside the program's first prototype. TUSAŞ has also disclosed work on a navalized HÜRJET variant with a twin-engine configuration intended for carrier operations, a version that could align with Spain's own carrier requirements down the line.
Spain's choice of HÜRJET is not viewed in isolation from TAI's parallel, ongoing government-to-government information exchange with Madrid over the KAAN fifth-generation fighter. TAI has described the two programs as complementary, with HÜRJET serving as the training step that introduces pilots to concepts later used on KAAN. Kencoa's parts contract, in that wider picture, is another data point in a Spain-Turkey defense relationship that is becoming multilayered rather than confined to one platform.
Geographic diversification of the supply chain matters for TUSAŞ's production-risk management and delivery discipline. The 2026-2028 window is the period in which Turkish Air Force inventory intake and Spain's first deliveries overlap, making single-source dependency in structural parts a factor that could affect schedule adherence either way.
Kencoa Aerospace is known for supplying precision-machined structural parts and subassemblies to defense and civil aviation programs; its entry into an international fighter-trainer supply chain fits South Korea's broader strategy of expanding defense exports beyond finished platforms into subcontracting. For TUSAŞ, this kind of partnership provides both cost competitiveness and dual-sourcing assurance.
Turkey-Spain defense-industrial ties extend beyond HÜRJET as well. New cooperation was signed between the two countries' industries at the Eurosatory 2026 exhibition in Paris, with a second round planned for 2027 in Valencia under the "Spain Defense and Aerospace Cooperation Days" banner. Points to watch going forward include whether Spain's first deliveries hold to the 2028-2029 window, the capacity of the Getafe conversion center, and whether TUSAŞ adds further international suppliers to its HÜRJET production line.
Sources
- Infodefensa, "La surcoreana Kencoa suministrará piezas estructurales para 27 Hürjet, el entrenador supersónico turco que ha comprado España," September 26, 2026, https://www.infodefensa.com/texto-diario/mostrar/6024903/surcoreana-kencoa-suministrara-piezas-estructurales-27-hurjet-entrenador-supersonico-turco-comprado-espana — used for contract details, Spain's delivery timeline and industrial-participation share.
- Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ), official HÜRJET product page, https://www.tusas.com/urunler/ucak/ozgun-gelistirme/hurjet — used for general program description.
- Defensa.com, "Vuela el primer Hürjet de serie destinado a la Fuerza Aérea Turca," https://www.defensa.com/espana/vuela-primer-hurjet-serie-destinado-fuerza-aerea-turca-avion — used for the first production aircraft's maiden-flight date and duration.
- El Español (Observatorio de Defensa), "Turquía trabaja en una versión naval del caza Hürjet," https://www.elespanol.com/observatorio-defensa/20260126/turquia-trabaja-version-naval-caza-hurjet-contara-doble-reactor-operar-portaviones/1003744103457_0.html — used for information on the naval variant.
- Infodefensa, "La turca TAI confirma contactos preliminares 'de Gobierno a Gobierno' para la venta del caza de quinta generación Kaan a España," https://www.infodefensa.com/texto-diario/mostrar/5871691/compania-turca-tai-confirma-contactos-preliminares-gobierno-gobierno-venta-caza-quinta-generacion-kaan-espana — used for the HÜRJET-KAAN relationship context.
IMAGE: Wikimedia Commons, "TAI Hürjet (1).jpg," CC BY-SA 4.0, photo: CeeGee.
