Greece to get 40 F-35 fighter jets from US, opposition asks for clarifications

The purchase of F-35 jet fighters had been a long-standing Greek request. The issue got politicised as, in parallel, Turkey was asking to upgrade its F-16 fleet from Washington.

The F-16 case of Ankara was sorted out last week immediately after the Turkish parliament gave its green light for Sweden to join NATO.

Read more: Athens on alert as Turkey brings F-16 jets into Sweden's NATO talks

In his letter to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Blinken said the US State Department had notified Congress of its proposal to transfer to Greece up to 40 new F-35 aircraft via Foreign Military Sales.

The cost, according to media reports in Athens, is estimated at €8.6 billion.

In Europe, F-35s are operated by Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Countries like Belgium, Finland, Germany and Poland have already ordered jets. Lockheed Martin, the US company that manufactures the aircraft, expects Europe to have about 500 F-35s by the decade's end.

Czechia recently got the US green light, too, for purchasing 24 F-35 fighter jets.

Excess equipment

In addition, Blinken stated that the US State Department had already notified Congress of the following proposed Excess Defense Articles (EDA) grant transfers to Greece: Two EDA C-130H aircraft; Ten EDA engines for P-3 aircraft; and 60 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles as EDA.

EDA refers to military equipment no longer needed by the US armed forces.

Moreover, Blinken reiterated the US interest in Greece's defence equipment that could be transferred or sold to Ukraine.

"Should these capabilities be of interest to Ukraine and pending a US government review of their condition and associated value, we can explore opportunities for potential additional Foreign Military Financing (FMF) up to $200 million for Greece", Blinken noted.

For its side, the Greek government hailed the letter as a recognition of the country's role as a pillar of stability in the region and a "vote of confidence" for the government.

In addition, the government noted that the package will not bring additional costs for taxpayers, considering that EDA will be provided for free.

Opposition has questions

However, the main opposition Syriza party has a different view, and today, at a meeting with the defence ministry, will ask for "clarifications".

Particularly, the opposition claims that the EDA material will come with an indirect cost as it will need upgrading and modernisation to become operationally capable.

Last but not least, the Greek opposition will ask for an update regarding Turkey's F-16 fleet upgrade of Turkey.

Greece had asked the Congress to make the upgrade conditional, meaning Turkey's purchased equipment should not target Greece or Cyprus.

Until now, it doesn't seem that Washington put conditions on Ankara.

Government sources told the Greek press that Greece cannot dictate US policy on defence programs towards third countries.

(Sarantis Michalopoulos | Euractiv.com)

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