The mini aircraft carrier "Juan Carlos" will be in the area south of the Peloponnese tomorrow, according to the relevant NOTAM issued by Athens for an exercise between the Hellenic Air Force and the Spanish Navy. This is the boat on which the Turks built their own "Anadolu".
Confirmation of the vessel's presence came from well-informed military sources. This means that not only the Harrier fighter jets it carries will be found in the area, but also the same, giving the opportunity to the Greek operators to train visually with a vessel, similar to the Turkish flagship, which at some point, perhaps before the elections in Turkey, according to some sources, out in the Aegean.
The area where the Greek pilots will have the opportunity to fly over the Anadolu twin ship has been committed to NOTAM A0312/23 for tomorrow.
A0312/23 - JOINT MILITARY TRAINING ACTIVITIES WITHOUT FIRING AMONG HELLENIC
AIR FORCE AND SPANISH NAVY WILL TAKE PLACE WITHIN ATHINAI FIR AS
DESCRIBED BELOW:
1.- EXERCISE AREA (WITHOUT FIRING) : 353400N 0230800E -
350600N 0231400E - 344700N 0225200E - 352200N 0214500E -
355800N 0221500E - 353400N 0230800E.
AWYS M729 (BADOG-PLH), L81 (METRU-TETUZ), M728 (RERSA-SALUN), M978
(DEMAG-PLH), P32 (NEVIK-EBOKA), L144, M872 (ETILI-PLH) AFFECTED.
VERTICAL LIMITS: SFC-FL190.
2.- PROCEDURES FOR EXERCISE AIRCRAFT:
2.1.- EXERCISE AIRCRAFT WILL FLY VFR/VMC IN ACCORDANCE WITH ICAO
RULES AND PROCEDURES AS AMPLIFIED IN AIP-GREECE.
2.2.- EXERCISE AIRCRAFT WILL SUBMIT FLIGHT PLANS AND WILL NOT ENTER
CONTROLLED AIRSPACE, UNLESS PRIOR PERMISSION HAS BEEN OBTAINED BY
APPROPRIATE ATC UNITS.
3.- PROCEDURES FOR NON EXERCISE AIRCRAFT:
3.1.- IN THE INTEREST OF SAFETY DURING THE EXERCISE, NON EXERCISE
AIRCRAFT ARE STRONGLY ADVISED NOT TO FLY WITHIN THE AREA DESIGNATED
IN PARA (1) ABOVE.
3.2.- ACFT UNABLE TO AVOID THE EXERCISE AREA WILL BE AUTHORIZED TO
ENTER THIS AREA AFTER SPECIAL PERMISSION BY APPROPRIATE ATC UNIT. SFC - FL190,
03 FEB 10:00 2023 UNTIL 03 FEB 14:00 2023. CREATED: 31 JAN 09:51 2023
Meanwhile, the American aircraft carrier "George Bush" has descended even further south, being today south of the Peloponnese, in the same area where the Spanish one will be more or less tomorrow.
At some point tomorrow it is expected to dock in Piraeus, while so far it has not been confirmed if it will then sail to the northern Aegean.
The Turkish provocation seems to have troubled the USA as well, and that is why they are sending their aircraft carrier "George Bush" to Greek waters, specifically to Piraeus and not to Souda, in order to send a clear message to Ankara that they will not accept any "warm" situation in the Aegean for the coming months.
It is not unrelated to the new rap against Turkey being prepared in Washington with senators preparing to ask in a letter to the US President to link Turkey's refusal to let Sweden and Finland join NATO with the F-16s that Ankara wants. In particular, the lawmakers are asking the American president to link the issue of NATO enlargement with the request submitted by Ankara for the upgrade and purchase of new F-16 fighters. The bipartisan letter was authored by Democratic Sen. Gene Sachin of New Hampshire and Republican Sen. Tom Tillis of North Carolina, and is currently circulating in the Senate to gather more signatures.
Turkey nevertheless once again questioned Greek sovereign rights in relation to the aeronautical exercise with fire for which Greece has reserved an area between Lemnos and Lesvos for today. Ankara raised the issue of demilitarization of Lemnos, Ai Stratis and Lesvos.
Today there were two air battles with 4 Turkish fighters out of 10 being armed.
In recent days, the number of engagements and the number of armed Turkish fighters entering the Aegean, not to note violations of the Greek Airspace but to engage with Greek fighters, has upgraded the dangerousness of the situations that the Greek staffs are called upon to handle.
