Page 5 - ADT JUNE - JULY 2021 Online Magazine
P. 5
Deepening [ COVER STORY ]
Ties
IN THE WAKE OF THE CRISIS WITH TURKEY, naval stand-off with Turkey over natural gas
GREECE IS RAMPING UP MILITARY COOPERATION drilling rights in the eastern Mediterranean.
WITH SEVERAL NATO ALLIES, ISRAEL, SAUDI Though under pressure from NATO allies,
ARABIA, THE UAE AND INDIA Greece and Turkey resumed diplomatic talks in
January to ease the tension, Athens is pressing
Jay Menon ahead with the accelerated military upgrade
programme worth 11.5 billion euros over the
next five years.
Faced with an increasingly confrontational situation with neigh-
bouring Turkey in the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas, Greece The air force has already begun overhauling its
has embarked on an upgrade programme of the Hellenic Armed fleet of U.S.-made F-16 fighters and has placed
Forces, and strategic partnerships with friendly nations. a 2.3 billion-euro order to buy 18 French-made
Rafale fighter jets, some currently in service
Last September, almost a decade after the country’s sovereign debt with the France's military, along with an upgrade
crisis put military modernization on hold, Prime Minister Kyriakos of compatible missiles.
Mitsotakis announced a major re-armament program following a
“The contract, signed in January this year,
included 12 used Rafale jets of the French Air
Force and six new ones, all to the F3R standard,
as well as an array of weapons that include
Exocet anti-ship missiles and SCALP cruise
missiles. The contract was estimated at €1.92
billion for the aircraft, with an additional €400
million for their weapons,” according to an Air
Force official.
The first six fighters, taken from the inventory
of the French Air Force, should arrive in Greece
as early as July 2021. The rest of the order
will be delivered in two instalments of six in
2022 and 2023. “To meet the urgent need of
the Greek authorities, the deliveries of aircraft
will be begin in the summer of 2021 and will be
spread over two years,” confirms Eric Trappier,
Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation.
ASIAN DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY June/July 2021 | 5
