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Greece receives Rafale flight ‘game changer’ from France | War Stories

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Tanagra, Greece – “La basi!” – “There” – a French journalist broke the silence pointing to making dots in the air.

A fourth-generation Rafale aircraft recently discovered in Greece created deaf lanes before landing at Tanagra Air Force Base, 70km (43 miles) north of Athens. Depart from Merignac airport near Bordeaux.

A ceremony was held at the airport to mark their arrival, while a Greek priest blessed the jets with his pilots.

Rafale is a symbol of change Greek security forces, security experts say, because they have more advanced weapons than are seen in the Aegean court to date.

“She has made tremendous progress [surveillance], maybe more than 100km [62 miles], in the form of a camera that looks at the hot signature of other aircraft, “said Konstantinos Grivas, who teaches weapons at the Hellenic Army Academy.

“Unlike radar, this does not allow the enemy to know if they have been detected because it does not produce a price,” he told Al Jazeera.

Most important of all this aircraft comes with Meteor air-to-air weapons, which are currently known to be much better than Western weapons. Its length is 120km (75 miles), but it is thought it could be 150km (93km).

“These six planes can pull out a large fire extinguisher without the enemy knowing that they are there.”

Greek pilots and specialists have spent a year training for aviation in France, so they immediately entered the workforce.

Metropolitan of Thebes and Livadeia bless Rafale ships that have recently arrived with their crew [John Psaropoulos/Al Jazeera]

The Greek army is in the army highly active NATO because Greek pilots regularly pass Turkish F-16s flying through its airspace or Greek flying islands.

Defense Minister Nikos Panayotopoulos told Al Jazeera that Rafale would play a key role. “It’s not a tool we have every day on the Aegean Sea, it’s a smart weapon,” he said.

Pilot Theodoros Christodoulou provided an idea of ​​what the Rafale services could include. “In ancient airplanes, if the radar was closed at a target, only the radar was closed there. Here … one aircraft can tell others,” he told Al Jazeera.

Grivas calls this ability to be a celestial being and to impart information to other aerospace, marine and terrestrial objects as “energy multipliers”. Konstantinos Floros, chairman of the Konstantinos Floros alliance, told Al Jazeera that the opportunity to join Greek forces had already begun.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis welcomes the plane as a way to connect with the new Greek-French brotherhoodPrime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis welcomes the plane as a way to connect with the new Greek-French brotherhood [John Psaropoulos/Al Jazeera]

Greece provided an immediate plan for 18 Rafale planes and 2.32 billion weapons ($ 2.63bn) 16 months ago. Parliament approved the contract in January 2021.

Dassault Aviation, the manufacturer of the aircraft, sold to Greece six new aircraft already built in Egypt. Greece receives six used aircraft from the French military this year, and six next year. It has also ordered six new planes to form 24 units.

Greece last year also ordered Belharra’s top three frigates from the French navy Naval Group at a cost of 3 billion euros ($ 3.4bn). The acquisition of Belharra and Rafale reinforces an unprecedented agreement between NATO defense in Greece and France that was signed last October.

“Rafale makes our military force one of the strongest in Europe and the Mediterranean, which encourages the flexibility of our international dialogue and our alliance,” said Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

“And it seals Greek-French security, and gives a fresh impetus to the prospect of intelligent independence in Europe.”

The pilot is boarding a Rafale dining room with two occupantsThe pilot is boarding a Rafale dining room with two occupants [John Psaropoulos/Al Jazeera]

The population of Turkey and Greece is eight times higher and its forces are the largest in NATO after the United States. Greece cannot compete in size. Unlike Turkey, which is building its defense with the help of simple technology, Greece has sought to jump on the bandwagon through high-level relations with France.

“Many Turkish scholars do not consider Greece to be a competitor to Turkey. Instead they see France as a competition in the East Mediterranean, “says Ioannis Grigoriadis, who teaches European studies at Bilkent University in Ankara.

“So France’s idea of ​​strengthening Greece and Rafale’s defense seems to be France’s idea of ​​forcing Turkey to use technology. Turkey does not have … Greece has weapons that are commensurate with Turkey’s population. wake. “

Greece and Turkey fought in the wars of 1974, 1987 and 1996. The war was almost over in August 2020, when the Turkish frigate almost destroyed the Greek and was severely damaged.

Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since 2017, largely due to disagreements over how to change regional watersheds and access to seawater. Negotiations to resolve the issue resumed last year after five years, but did not lead to a compromise.

Rafale is crossing the road to GreeceRafale flooded the road [John Psaropoulos/Al Jazeera]



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