“Landing” at the 110th Fighter Wing of Larissa is carried out by American forces, with the Air Force base once again turning into a base for the MQ-9 Reaper Unmanned Aircraft.
In the last few days, intense movement has been observed as one after the other, transport aircraft of the American Air Force land at 110 AM and also at the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport of Athens.
According to information, they are transporting equipment that is being installed in Larissa with the aim of starting MQ-9 flights within the next few weeks.
At the moment, there are four assembled and four unassembled UAVs at the Larissa air base, while the personnel, approximately 120 members of the American Armed Forces, are gradually arriving, whose main objective will be the guarding and maintenance of the Unmanned Aircraft.
And this is because the operators who fly them are more than 10,000 kilometers away, in Nevada, United States, and have full control of the UAVs through satellite systems.
The MQ-9s will remain for about a year in Larissa covering exclusively the operational needs of the United States, conveying high-definition imagery to American operations centers, with an emphasis, of course, on the Ukrainian front where the Russian invasion continues.
At the moment, there is no provision for joint training with the Greek Armed Forces, however, their presence only in Larissa, as well as the security provided by this particular base to the high operational value American Unmanned Aircraft, is a vote of confidence that strengthens the strategic cooperation of Athens with Washington.
The MQ-9s are returning to 110 AM after nearly a year and a half, following the upgrade work done in Larissa under the Greece-US Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement, with the Americans investing more than $33 million so that the airport can host high-tech platforms as well as strategic assets such as the KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft that are often stationed there.
In fact, at the beginning of 2023, the first of the new hangars being built at 110 AM is expected to be delivered, while corresponding infrastructure is also being created at the “neighboring” Air Force Base, in Stefanovikio.
Although, as we said, the development of the Reaper mainly concerns the American surveillance needs of the Eastern wing of NATO and the Mediterranean, there is clearly also Greek interest as these UAVs have long been in the “crosshairs” of the Air Force.
Athens does not hide its interest in the supply of three UAVs and a command station through the FMS program, so that together with the Israeli HERONs operating from Skyros, it covers the surveillance needs in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.
After all, the country’s needs for aerial surveillance of maritime areas are going to increase even more in the coming period, as in addition to the movements of Turkish ships and migratory flows, the Greek Staff will also have its eyes on the areas where the seismographic surveys in the southwest of Crete.
