France accepted the Greek request to speed up their arrival in Tanagra
Athens requested France to accelerate the delivery of the Rafale to the Air Force and the acceleration is being implemented. Two brand new Rafales, one single-seater and the other two-seater, arrive in Tanagra in a few days by Greek pilots and immediately join the Rafale squadron.
Thus the Air Force will have a total of 8 Rafales and by the end of the year possibly another one. In conjunction with the start of construction work on the first (of three) Greek frigate Belh@rra, all procurement of French weapon systems is now going through a new, shorter schedule.
All the Rafales located in Greece carry their armament which includes the Meteor missile, which has a range of more than 300 kilometers, and is considered the leading missile in the specific sector, with a high resistance to electronic interference conditions and the largest NEZ, within the whose downing of the enemy target (including the Turkish Tayfun) seems a given. The cost of €2 million for each of the Meteors, borne by the Greek taxpayer, is considered by the staff to be necessary for the protection of national sovereignty.
However, in addition to the Meteor missiles, the Air Force has in its arsenal the Exocet, the Mica, as well as the Scalp (with low observability Stealth technology), a superweapon that few countries have with a long range, which is also carried by the Mirage 2000-5 , but also by Rafales (which can also be used by Balh@rra frigates – like the Meteors) with the main mission of attacking high-value ground targets, such as headquarters, airfields, naval stations, ammunition storage facilities, bridges, energy infrastructure, but also neutralizing a ballistic missile launch platform.
But more importantly, the Rafales and their Greek pilots passed the initial operational evaluation (by NATO) a few days ago, which means they can join the operational units of the Air Force and take part in missions like all fighter jets. Therefore, they will also be able to fly to the Aegean. Their final operational evaluation follows in a short time, so that they are ready and wherever they are needed even in scrabble missions, immediate, that is, take-off to intercept an aerial invader.
The two new Rafales are very likely to be received shortly before the feast of the patrons of the Air Force Archangels Michael and Gabriel. There in Flisvos there will be an impressive air show of the Air Force, with the participation of all types of aircraft it has, but also with two air shows: The first with the F-16 of the demonstration group “Zeus” and the second with a helicopter training aircraft T-6 of the “Ikaros” aerobatic team. On the day of the air show, the Air Force is also preparing a surprise: A Saudi F-15 will make its appearance in the sky of Flisvos, also doing acrobatics.
