[ad_1]
Tanagra, Greece – “Down!” – “From there” – A French journalist broke the silence by pointing to a point formation covered in the sky.
The newly purchased fourth-generation Rafale aircraft made some formidable passes before landing at Tanagra Air Force Base 70 km (43 miles) north of Athens. They flew from Merignac Airport near Bordeaux.
A ceremony was held at the base for their arrival, and a Greek priest blessed the planes and their pilots.
Rafal marks a turning point Greek defense skills, according to defense experts, have more advanced targets and weapons than those seen so far in the Aegean theater.
“They are very advanced [surveillance], may exceed 100 km [62 miles], like a camera looking for the thermal signature of other planes, ”said Konstantinos Grivas, who teaches weapon systems at the Hellenic Army Academy.
“Unlike radars, this one doesn’t know when they saw the enemy, because it doesn’t emit light,” he told Al Jazeera.
“The most important thing is that this aircraft comes with the Meteor air-to-air missile, which is currently considered the best of its kind in the Western arsenal. Its range is officially 120 km (75 miles), but it is estimated to be 150 km (93 km).
“These six planes can release a huge amount of firepower without knowing the enemies are there.”
Greek pilots and technicians have spent a year training in aircraft in France, so they will be put into service immediately.
It is among the Greek air force Most active in NATO in fact, Greek pilots are constantly being apprehended by Turkish F-16 fighter jets for raiding their airspace or flying over the Greek islands.
Defense Minister Nikos Panayotopoulos told Al Jazeera that Rafal would do more important work. “It’s not a weapon we catch every day over the Aegean, it’s a strategic weapon,” he said.
Pilot Theodoros Christodoulou offered an idea of what the Rafale missions might entail. “On older planes, if the radar was blocked on a target, only that radar would be blocked. Here … one plane can pass its information to another,” he told Al Jazeera.
Grivas calls this ability to transmit information to be able to keep an eye on the sky and focus on certain air, ship, and ground assets. United States President Konstantinos Floros told Al Jazeera that network capability in the branches of the Greek army was already in place.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis welcomed the plane as the focus of a new Greek-French relationship. [John Psaropoulos/Al Jazeera]Greece, with $ 2.32 billion ($ 2.63 billion), quickly ordered 18 Rafale aircraft and weapons just 16 months ago. Parliament ratified the contracts in January 2021.
Dassault Aviation, which makes the aircraft, has sold six new aircraft already in production to Egypt. Greece will use six French Air Force planes this year, and six next year. He has also ordered six new aircraft to complete the 24th Squadron.
Greece also ordered three top-tier Belharra frigates from the French Naval Group last year for roughly 3 billion euros ($ 3.4 billion). The acquisitions of Belharra and Rafale are based on an unprecedented treaty signed by Greece and France for NATO’s internal defense last October.
“Rafale makes our air force one of the most powerful in Europe and the Mediterranean, which promotes the flexibility of our national diplomacy and our wider alliances,” said Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
“And it seals the Greek-French defense contract, and gives a new lease of life to the hope of strategic European autonomy.”
A pilot emerges from the cockpit of a two-seater Rafale [John Psaropoulos/Al Jazeera]Turkey’s population is eight times that of Greece and its army is the largest in NATO behind the United States. Greece cannot compete in size. Unlike Turkey, which is building its own defense industry using relatively simple technology, Greece has sought a leap into high technology through a strategic relationship with France.
“Many Turkish analysts do not see Greece as a rival to Turkey. Rather, they see France as a competitor to the eastern Mediterranean, ”said Ioannis Grigoriadis, who teaches European studies at Bilkent University in Ankara.
“So France’s decision to strengthen Greece’s defense with Rafale is seen as a French decision to put pressure on Turkey, using technology that Turkey does not have … Greece has a weapon at its disposal that balances Turkey’s numerical dominance. This allows Greece to speak as its neighbor. “
Greece and Turkey flirted with armed conflict in 1974, 1987 and 1996. In August 2020 they were almost blown up when a Turkish frigate was about to shake a Greek and suffered heavy damage in the process.
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since 2017, mainly due to the lack of restrictions on territorial water and rights to submarine mineral resources. Exploration talks to resolve the issue resumed last year after a five-year hiatus, but no agreement has been reached.
Rafale crosses the track [John Psaropoulos/Al Jazeera]
[ad_2]
Source link
