Greece looks to France for new arms amid spat with Turkey

PARIS – Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on Sept. 12 that Athens would buy 18 Rafale combat aircraft from France, a combination of new and pre-owned planes.

According to Greek media, six of the aircraft would be new and 12 would be second-hand from the French air force. French media put the ratio at 10 (Rafale F3Rs) and eight, respectively.

Contacted by Defense News, manufacturer Dassault Aviation declined to confirm the figures, saying it was up to the client to communicate. The Rafales will replace Greek Mirage 2000s of the 332 Squadron “Gerakia.”

Misotakis also said Greece would procure guided missiles for its air force. Given Greece’s long history with Dassault – it purchased 40 Mirage F1s in 1974, 40 Mirage 2000s in 1985 and 15 Mirage 2000-5s in 2000 – this means Athens is likely to buy its guided missiles from MBDA as these older Dassault aircraft are armed with that company’s missiles (Exocet, Scalp, Mica).

The prime minister added that Athens would also purchase four Romeo naval helicopters from Lockheed Martin-Sikorsky, unspecified antitank weapons for the army, torpedoes for the navy. There is also a plan to refurbish four MEKO frigates and, over the next five to seven years, buy four new frigates.

Speaking on the grounds of the Thessaloniki International Fair, Mitsotakis also said that over the next five years the Greek armed forces would be recruiting an additional 15,000 young men and women.

The defense procurements come against a background of heightened tensions between Greece and Turkey. “Ankara is now adding to the provocations in the Aegean, the undermining of peace in the entire Mediterranean. It is threatening the eastern borders of Europe, and it is undermining security in a sensitive crossroads of three continents,” the prime minister was quoted as saying by ekathimerini.com, the website of Greek daily Kathimerini.

A French defense ministry statement said negotiations over the next months should lead to a contract signature for the Rafales, possibly before the end of 2020. Greece is the first European client for the aircraft which, apart from the French air force, has been procured by Egypt (24) Qatar (24) and India (36).

The other major procurement announced – four frigates – has France’s Naval Group interested.

France has been negotiating the sale of frigates to Greece for several years but given the length of time it would take for a ship to be delivered to the Hellenic Navy, Mitsotakis has opted to procure more immediately available aircraft first.

Christina Mackenzie was the France correspondent for Defense News.

巴黎——希腊总理基里亚科斯·米佐塔基斯于9月12日宣布，雅典将从法国购买18架阵风战斗机，其中包括新飞机和二手飞机。

据希腊媒体报道，这批战机中，6架将是全新战机，12架将从法国空军购入的二手战机。法国媒体则称，全新战机为10架，二手战机为8架。

《防务新闻》联系了制造商达索航空公司，但该公司拒绝证实这些数字，称这是客户需要沟通的事情。阵风战斗机将取代希腊第332“格拉基亚”中队的幻影2000战斗机。

米索塔基斯还表示，希腊将为其空军采购制导导弹。鉴​​于希腊与达索公司有着长期的合作关系——1974年购买了40架幻影F1战斗机，1985年购买了40架幻影2000战斗机，2000年购买了15架幻影2000-5战斗机——这意味着雅典很可能从MBDA公司购买制导导弹，因为这些较老的达索飞机配备的正是该公司生产的导弹（飞鱼、风暴阴影、云母）。

总理补充说，雅典还将从洛克希德·马丁-西科斯基公司购买四架罗密欧海军直升机，为陆军采购未指明的反坦克武器，并为海军采购鱼雷。此外，还有一项计划，翻新四艘MEKO型护卫舰，并在未来五到七年内购买四艘新护卫舰。

米佐塔基斯在塞萨洛尼基国际博览会现场发表讲话时还表示，未来五年希腊武装部队将再招募 15,000 名青年男女。

此次国防采购正值希腊和土耳其关系高度紧张之际。希腊总理在接受希腊日报《每日报》（Kathimerini）旗下网站ekathimerini.com采访时表示：“安卡拉现在加剧了爱琴海的挑衅行为，破坏了整个地中海的和平。它威胁着欧洲东部边界，并破坏了三大洲交界处的敏感地带的安全。”

法国国防部发表声明称，未来几个月的谈判应该会促成阵风战斗机的合同签署，最早可能在2020年底前完成。希腊是该型战机的首个欧洲客户，除法国空军外，埃及（24架）、卡塔尔（24架）和印度（36架）也已采购了该型战机。

另一项重大采购项目——四艘护卫舰——引起了法国海军集团的兴趣。

法国与希腊就出售护卫舰的谈判已经进行了数年，但考虑到一艘舰艇交付给希腊海军所需的时间较长，米佐塔基斯选择先采购更易获得的飞机。

克里斯蒂娜·麦肯齐是《防务新闻》的法国记者。