Greece has the regular advantage both by sea and by air and now belongs to the air “foam cream” having in its possession lethal arsenals
Written by Stavros Ioannidis – [email protected] – SOURCE: POLITICAL –
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The Air Force is conducting daily demonstrations of power, even in the eastern part of the Aegean, giving a dynamic response to every Turkish challenge. And if Ankara, confirming its characterization of “turmoil”, uses the violations of the national airspace and the overflights over the Greek islands as a means of promoting its illegal claims, the one who always says the last word in the skies of the Aegean is the War Aviation.
Under the guidance of GEETHA and the Tactical Aviation Headquarters, Greek fighters always have the numerical superiority over the Turkish ones, which seldom come in large formations due to the countless problems faced by the Turkish Air Force. Even more important, however, is the fact that the Greek pilots are constantly in the “6th hour” of the Turks, that is, in a firing position, always maintaining the regular advantage. In fact, the gap is expected to widen from year to year, as the government’s decisions for immediate reinforcement of the Air Force with advanced technology aircraft are already bearing fruit in the field.
Greece now belongs to the aviation “foam” maintaining a “deadly” arsenal with terrifying capabilities compared to Turkey. The arrival of the first Rafale changes the game by bringing new data to the business map. The Meteor long-range missiles, in conjunction with the AESA electronic scanning radar, give Rafale the ultimate advantage in being able to target and shoot down targets before they are even detected by enemy air defenses. The pilots of the 332 Squadron “Geraki” are trained at a frantic pace in all battle scenarios, while with each new aircraft added to the Squadron, the operational capabilities of the Air Force will increase dramatically. By the end of the year, the country will have 12 Rafale, while by 2023 it will have all 24 aircraft of the first Squadron.
Turkey has no answer for the Rafale, as it may have a larger total number of fighters, but it lacks at least half a generation in terms of technology. The Turkish arsenal currently has 260 aircraft, reportedly divided into 35 F-16 Block 30, 173 F-16 Block 40/50, 29 F-16 Block 50/52 and 23 F-4 Phantom II. These numbers are not going to rise any time soon, as Ankara’s demand for 40 new F-16s remains “frozen” in the US Congress, as is the issue of upgrading 80 fighters to the Viper version.
On the other hand, Greece has 6 Rafale, 153 F-16, 24 Mirage 2000-5 and 33 F-4E, a total of 216. In these, if we calculate the entire Rafale Squadron, we reach 234. Even the numerical difference is negligible, as The quality difference is made not only by the Rafale but also by the upgraded F-16V that will be included in the Greek arsenal until 2027.
The first two “vipers” have already completed their flight tests and when the prototype in the US is certified by the US Air Force, the delivery of F-16Vs by the Air Force will begin.
The fleet of Greek F-16s is expected to be further strengthened with the upgrade of all 38 Block 50s, while the programs for the acquisition of new weapons systems that will “launch” their strike capabilities, such as the Israeli Rampage missiles and the collections, are “running”. Spice bombs. To these we must add the will of the country to move on to the 5th generation of fighters with the purchase of an F-35 Squadron that will rank the Air Force among the strongest in the world.
