ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Greece signed a € 2.3 billion ($ 2.8 billion) deal with France on Monday to purchase 18 Rafale fighter jets as tensions remain high with neighboring Turkey.
Florence Parly, France’s Defense Minister, signed the agreement in Athens to supply used and six new aircraft built by Dassault Aviation over two years from July 12.
France has sided with Greece in a dispute over the borders in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, which has brought NATO members Greece and Turkey to the brink of war several times over the past few decades.
Tensions rose again last summer when a Turkish reconnaissance mission in disputed waters triggered a dangerous military build-up.
Greece and Turkey have agreed to resume talks to resolve the dispute peacefully. High-ranking diplomats from the two countries met in Istanbul on Monday to resume the process that had been interrupted for nearly five years.
But Athens says it will continue a multi-billion dollar program to upgrade its army after years of austerity due to the country’s financial crisis.
France and the United States compete to supply the Hellenic Navy with new frigates, while the Greek government recently approved plans to work with Israeli defense electronics company Elbit Systems to establish a new military flight academy in southern Greece .
“The upgrade of the capabilities of the Hellenic Air Force through both the purchase of new fighter aircraft and the new state-of-the-art training center is critical for Greece to provide a credible deterrent,” said Michael Tanchum, a senior fellow at Austria Institute for European and Security Policy, told The Associated Press.
“It also gives Athens more opportunities to exercise more strategic autonomy when EU and NATO frameworks are deemed inadequate, making Greece more of a player in itself.”
From May onwards, compulsory national service in the Greek armed forces will be increased from nine to 12 months in order to boost the number of people in uniform. Parly, who also met with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, announced that France would participate in two Greek military exercises later this year, using Rafale jets from the French Air Force.
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