After Rafale, Greece is now looking to buy Eurofighter Typhoon

Greece buy RAF Eurofghter Typhoon
RAF Eurofghter Typhoon.

The Hellenic Air Force appears to be considering purchasing Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft from the Royal Air Force's inventory, Aerotime said, citing Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos.

"All possible options are being considered to find the most suitable solution, in order to further upgrade the operational capabilities of the Air Force," Panagiotopoulos said when questioned about the prospect by Kyriakos Velopoulos, president of the conservative party Ellinikí Lýsi.

The UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, James Heappey, recently revealed their plan to retire 30 Typhoon Tranche 1 jets by 2025. Greece is reported to be looking at buying these planes to replace its aging fleet of 18 F-jet 4E Phantom II.

According to Heappey, the 30 Typhoon T1s that will be retired have an average of nearly 60% of their cellular fatigue life remaining. This is because Tranche 1 has limited combat capabilities since it cannot receive major upgrades.

This arms purchasing campaign by Greece is the result of growing territorial tensions with Turkey. The Greek government purchased 18 Rafale fighters at the beginning of the year and another 6 will be added soon. Additionally, Athens has asked the United States for approval to purchase the Lockheed Martin F-35.

Since the Eurofighter T1 has poor air-to-ground capabilities and the HAF currently uses its Phantoms for ground attack missions, it is not clear to us why Greece is evaluating RAF aircraft.

Written by Matteo Sanzani
Image: Eurofighter GmbH

No comments

All comments related to the contents of our articles are welcome. It is not allowed to post promotional messages, links to external sites, or references to activities not related to this blog.

Powered by Blogger.