Greece received the first 6 of a total of 24 French-made Rafale fighter jets, which they had ordered from French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation. After they arrived in the country on Wednesday, 6 new Rafale fighter jets carried out low altitude flight over the Acropolis in Greek capital city of Athens in the same day. It’s been reported that the remaining jets will be delivered to the country later this year and in 2023.
Also Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis made a statement on the arrival of the Rafale jets. “After a decade of austerity, we are again, in a position to upgrade our defense capabilities and the arrival of these first 6 Rafales in record time since the political decision was taken to acquire them, signifies our commitment to constantly invest in the deterrence capacity of the country, always with full respect to the fiscal position we find ourselves in,” Prime Minister Mitsotakis said.
On the other hand, Greece was decided to purchase the Rafale fighter jets 16 months ago as part of a 5-year plan to strengthen the Greek Armed Forces’ deterrence capabilities. The deal with Dassault Aviation was hailed by Athens and Paris as a milestone in Greek-French cooperation. And the deal was expected to help Europe to build its own strategic autonomy.
“The signing of the strategic partnership agreement last year was an important step in terms of, in my mind, laying the building blocks of what could be a European strategic defense strategy that can always work complementary to NATO, but will also allow Europe to build its own strategic autonomy,” Mitsotakis said about the Greek-French agreement.