Greece Inks Agreement With France To Purchase 18 Rafale Fighter Jets - French Embassy

MOSCOW/ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th January, 2021) The Greek Defense Ministry on Monday signed a deal with French arms manufacturers to purchase 18 Rafale fighter jets, the French embassy in Athens said.

"Signing in # Athens of a contract for the sale of 18 # Rafale to Greece between @HellenicGDDIA [Greece's General Directorate of Defense Equipment and Investments]- @ Hellenic_MOD [Greece's Defense Ministry] and French companies @Dassault_OnAir [Dassault Aviation] @BYMBDA [MBDA] @SAFRAN [Safran] @thalesgroup [Thales Group] @Armees_Gouv [French Defense Ministry]," the embassy said.

The signing ceremony for a 2.5 billion-euro ($3 billion) deal was attended by French Defense Minister Florence Parly who also met with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in his residence.

"We welcome the French defense minister to Greece at a truly historic moment of signing of the agreement for the purchase of 18 Rafale aircraft, which will become a new squadron of the Hellenic Air Force and launch a weapon upgrade program in the three branches of the armed forces," Mitsotakis said during the meeting.

The prime minister added that a new chapter is opening in the long history of military cooperation between Paris and Athens, while the Greek defense industry will see new opportunities.

According to Parly, the deal on the purchase of fighter jets will further strengthen the cooperation between French and Greek military forces.

"There is also a plan for a new joint exercise in April. Then, the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle will patrol the Mediterranean with a Greek frigate. So we are working both in the short and long term, both for our bilateral relations and for Europe," the French defense minister said.

Christian Cambon, a member of the French Senate and the head of its Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces, welcomed the deal on the purchase of Rafale jets and mentioned that the agreement became an important stage in building collective security in Europe.