ATHENS – Awaiting upgrading of American-made F16 fighter jets and hoping to acquire more advanced F-35’s, Greece’s military plans also include selling some of the current stock of older F-16s and French Mirage 2000 fighter jets.

Defense Minister Nikos Dendias said that was part of reforms to further modernize the military after Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ government earlier moved to get French Rafale fighter jets and French and American warships.

He said the New Democracy government aims to drastically rebuild the Armed Forces during “the largest reform program in the history of the modern Greek state,” initially planned to counter Turkish provocations.

Greece and Turkey have since gone into a period of detente with tensions eased but Dendias said there must be a strong defense capability and that includes revamping the Air Force which has a number of different fighter jets.

“We have F-4s, Mirage 2000-5s, Block 30 F-16s, Block 50 F-16s, Block 52 F-16s, Viper F-16s, and Rafales. We cannot move forward like this,” he pointed out, noted the Ukrainian military news site Militarnyi.

https://mil.in.ua/en/news/greece-will-sell-some-of-its-fighter-jets/

“The F-4s need to be retired and, if possible, sold. The Mirage 2000-5 is an exceptionally capable aircraft and can be sold. The Block 30 F-16s also need to be sold. And I think we will be able to sell the (Mirage and 30 F-16s,) Dendias said, pointing to the enormous cost of maintaining many different types of aircraft.

Militarnyi previously reported that the Greek Ministry of Defense planned to sell 18 Mirage 2000 aircraft, decommissioned from the country’s air force in 2022, to India, which is building closer ties to Greece.

The F-16 Block 30 fleet includes 40 fighter jets, along with the same amount of the Block 50 version but it’s known how many are operational or what would be needed to make them battle ready.

The F-16 fighter jets that will remain in service will subsequently be upgraded to the Block 70/72 versions, the most modern version. “We need to strengthen our fleet of Rafales – we have 24, but it would be good to reach 30 – and, of course, to acquire the F-35 Block 4,” he added.

Dendias acknowledged that the country had delays in the program to upgrade F-16s to the latest version, but said he believed the country would have an “adequate fleet” of aircraft “at the latest” by 2027.”

In January, the US State Department agreed on the possible sale of 40 F-35A fighter jets and related equipment to Greece in the amount of $8.6 billion. Turkey had been barred from the F-35 program after buying Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems that undermine NATO and could be used against Greece.