the first six out of a total of 24 french fighter jets to be acquired by the hellenic air force
will soon be able to meet operational needs as their pilots have completed their training
with them in france the ministry of defence has decided that the chief of the general staff of
the hellenic air force hafgs lieutenant general georgios blumis will be present
for their dispatch because during his tenure the decision to procure the rafale was made
the first six rafale jets arrived in january the first batch of french-made rafale jets
will be delivered to the hellenic air force in january in the 114th fighter wing in tanagra
bluemiss who has served as chief of the general staff for almost three years
is commended that he and his staff managed under difficult circumstances to ensure completion of
all staff training integration and adaptation to rafales the delivery of the remaining twelve
rafales that have been purchased will be carried out over the next two years meanwhile in the
next few days the procedure for purchasing an additional six-fighter aircraft of the same
type is expected to begin so that the number of rafale becomes a full squadron of 24 aircraft
to this end defence minister nicos panagiatopoulos has completed the
processing of files for the additional six aircraft while details for their acquisition
will be submitted to the relevant committees of the hellenic parliament in the coming days
so that relevant procedures can be moved forward the case for the acquisition of
three new french fdi frigates is also expected to be presented in parliament in the next few days
the rafale is a twin jet fighter capable of performing a variety of short and long range
missions including land and sea attacks separate deals worth 400 million euros
were also signed to purchase mbda meteors outer visual range air-to-air missiles
vram and to upgrade missiles already in half's inventory namely the mica air-to-air missiles
scalp cruise missiles and exoset anti-ship missiles to be carried by the river falls
greece on wednesday received the first of 18 french fighter jets after a ceremony at dasso
aviations flight test center in eisters france greek defence minister nicos panagiotopoulos said
the choice to buy french fighter jets rafale underscores the strategic character of greek
greek relations france and france's full support of greece before the challenges and threats
six months ago greece signed a 2.5 billion euros
3.03 billion dollar deal with france for the purchase of 18 dasso madra failed fighter jets
greece plans to buy six new and 12 used rafale jets from france and will spend 400 million
euros on related equipment its defence budget is projected to be around 5.5 billion euros
more than double last year's spending despite the economic hardships
the mediterranean nation spent 2.3 per cent of its gross domestic product gdp on defence last year