By taking off fifty aircraft yesterday, the Greek Air Force sent a message to Turkey that it maintains significant aircraft availability. The reason why this number of fighters took off was an exercise that gives the Greek pilots the opportunity to gain even more experience in aerial refueling as the air force may not have flying tankers at this stage, but this does not mean that it will not have them in the future or that Greek pilots should not know the procedures of aerial refueling.
So on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, an aerial refueling exercise was conducted between Air Force fighter aircraft and U.S. Air Force (USAF) aircraft.
The Air Force participated in the co-training with 50 F-16 aircraft sorties and the USAF with 2 sorties of KC-135 aircraft from the 134 Air Refueling Wing that have been redeployed to the 110th Fighter Wing, Larissa Air Force Base.
The purpose of the exercise was to train and maintain F-16 aircrews in day and night Air to Air Refueling (AAR) procedures.
About a month ago, a similar exercise had been conducted with two flying tankers of the Israeli Air Force that had reached as far south as Crete, while the Greek Air Force had taken off fifty-three fighters at that time!
The then statement of the General Staff of the Hellenic Air Force specifically stated:
"On Tuesday, May 23, in the framework of the planning of the General Staff of the Armed Forces in terms of international cooperation of the Armed Forces and the implementation of the Defense Cooperation Program (DCP) of Greece and Israel for the year 2023, a LIVEX (Live Exercise) co-training exercise was conducted between Fighter Aircraft (F/A) of the Air Force and F/A of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) in the wider area south of Crete.
The Air Force participated in the co-exercise with 53 F-16 fighter aircraft sorties, while the IAF participated with 2 B707 Tanker Air Refueling Aircraft of 120 Squadron (Desert Giants).
The activity was conducted to train, familiarize and coordinate F-16 Aircraft crews in Air to Air Refueling (AAR) procedures during day and night.
This co-training, which is conducted twice a year in the framework of the implementation of the Greek-Israeli PAS, contributed to increasing the level of operational readiness, combat capability, exchange of know-how and upgrading the multi-level military synergy between the Armed Forces of the two countries".
