The days are now counting down, according to reports, for the US to send a positive response to Greece's letter of interest for the F-35.
Sources who spoke to Pentapostagma stressed that during US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's meeting in Crete with the Greek Prime Minister, the US Secretary made it clear that Greece is considered not just a pillar of stability but an integral part of US geostrategic planning. In this context, Washington considers the acquisition of the F-35 by the Greek Air Force to be imperative.
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Στο χείλος της οικονομικής καταστροφής η Γερμανία; Στους δρόμους αγρότες και οδηγοί φορτηγών για φοροεπιδρομή και ακρίβεια
Especially since it has become clear beyond any doubts and scepticism in the US that Turkey is now acquiring more and more contacts with Moscow than with the West.
The US wants Greece to have a clear technological advantage over Turkey, as in the possible scenarios that the various think tanks across the Atlantic are "running", it is not unlikely that Ankara could even withdraw from NATO and chart a completely independent course, away from the shadow of Russia, in the context of a neo-Ottoman model promoted in the context of the "Century of Turkey", which has become a slogan on the lips of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government in recent times.
In any case, of course, the arrival of the first F-35s to join the Greek Air Force should not be expected earlier than 2028 and that is if everything goes smoothly, as the previous Minister of National Defence Nikos Panagiotopoulos had also stressed.
What should also take its way is the so-called prioritization announced in the last period of time, which may, as the current Minister Nikos Dendias stressed, not imply a freeze on many armaments, but this does not mean, as the word "prioritization" itself says, that some of them will not be carried over to the future. The very... distant future...
F-35 Lightning II program summary
Delivered to date: 990+ fighters
Flight hours: 773,000 flight hours completed
Pilots trained worldwide: 2,280+
Trained technicians worldwide: 15,400+
Dates - Milestones
- British F-35Bs fly with US B-2 bombers over the North Sea. 13 December
- US Navy F-35Cs operate on the aircraft carrier USS George Washington. December 12
- The Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales completes a successful mission. 11 December
- The United Kingdom assembles its second F-35 front-line squadron. 8 December
-The first F-35s of the 187th Fighter Wing arrive in Alabama. 5 December
