The recent speech of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Panagiotopoulos in the Parliament brought out "bass", with announcements that are expected to cause a headache for Erdogan, Akar and the Turkish military leadership.
In particular, he briefly mentioned that in a period of two months the first M-346 training aircraft will be delivered to the Air Force, while in the coming days the 6th modernized fighter F-16 BLOCK 72 will be delivered and they are coming from our friend and ally France, another 2 Rafale to Tanagra, bringing their total to 12, with another 6 coming by 2023.
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What does the above mean? Simply that with each passing day, the air balance of power between Greece and Turkey is tilting more and more to our side.
The Greece-Israel deal for the M-346 is moving forward
Following the international agreement between the Hellenic-Israeli Ministries, Elbit Systems has taken over from April 2021 the creation of an International Pilot Training Center in Kalamata.
The agreement includes, the supply and operation of new M-346 trainer aircraft, the maintenance of the existing training fleet consisting of the new M-346 and dozens of older T-6 trainer aircraft, the provision of integrated flight electronic systems to the trainer aircraft, interconnected flight simulators, ground training stations and command and control system.
F-16 Viper
The main systems that are being upgraded as part of the program of the American company Lockheed Martin, in collaboration with the Hellenic Aviation Industry (EAB), include the following:
AESA APG-83 radar
New Modular Mission computer (MMC-7000AH), ADT
New information and display screens between the footwells
New APX-126 AIFF with mod 5 capability
Integration of SNIPER POD, SASSM and PaveWay II projectiles
Link-16 capability
F-16 upgrades are carried out at ODA under close technical guidance from Lockheed Martin teams.
The ODA staff working on the F-16 Viper program consists of a core group of more than 21 experienced employees, while dozens of new employees have been hired and trained so far during four different phases.
The upgrade of all 83 Air Force F-16s to Vipers is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2027.
Rafale F3R
It is a French-built, twin-engine, multi-role hang glider fighter aircraft that covers the full range of operational missions.
It joined the PA arsenal in 2021 under contract 013C/20, under which the PA procured 24 aircraft. More specifically, 12 used and 12 new, of which 18 single-seater Rafale EG and 6 two-seater Rafale DG, will be delivered.
It can cover multiple roles simultaneously (omnirole), allowing different missions to be carried out during the same flight. It has 14 suspension stations and can carry up to 9.5 tons of external loads.
It can carry a large number of weapons, including the long-range Meteor air-to-air missile, MICA EM and IR missiles, the SCALP EG cruise missile and the Exocet AM39 Block 2 Mod 2 air-to-surface missile, as well as precision weapons such as the GBU 12/16/24 and AASM, while carrying a 30 mm gun.
The aircraft are based at 114 Fighter Wing at Tanagra and belong to 332 Squadron with the callsign 'Hawk'.
Technical characteristics/Performance
Crew: 1 or 2
Engine: 2 twin shaft M88-4E turbofan engines with afterburner
Thrust (per engine): 50kN (11,250 lb) dry, 75kN (17,000 lb) afterburner
Wingspan: 10.21 m
Length: 15.27 m
Maximum speed: 750 kt CAS or Mach 1.6
Maximum Altitude: Above 15,240 m or 50,000 ft
Maximum take-off weight: 24,500 kg or 54,000 lb
In conclusion, we would say that the Turks realize that any of their plans to occupy our islands in the Aegean are futile, since the basic condition is to secure and maintain air superiority in the Archipelago.
The refusal of the sale by the USA to Turkey of 40 F-16 BLOCK-70 and 80 modernization kits for the same number of F-16 fighters of the Turkish Air Force makes it even more difficult to implement the Turkish plans, having in front of them a constantly upgraded qualitatively and quantitatively Greek Air Force.
We remind you that we recently captured the Turkish desperation in our article entitled "The Turks are desperate: If necessary we will sacrifice 2 of our fighters to face 1 Greek Rafale", a phrase used by the Turkish military analyst Abdullah Agar.
Finally, such is the Turkish preemption for our country's armaments program, which was the area of concern of the recent National Security Council of the Turks under Erdogan.
