Greece eyeing F-35

Athens is looking at the F-35 to replace their Block 52+ F-16s. Greek media is reporting that the government has formally requested pricing on 25-30 aircraft from Lockheed. Purchase would depend on being able to set up a long term agreement on payment.

The current fleet of F-16s is undergoing an upgrade to the V standard, which includes AESA radar, improved EW, and GCAS.

www.flightglobal.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

They've just had an exercise with some other air forces including Italy with their F35s and maybe Israel I think? I was surprised the HAF were still using F4s.

a reply to: Zaphod58

do they even have a fraction of the money for this deal or are they going to get the money from Germany?

talk about a broke country asking for luxury

a reply to: Dr UAE

I was thinking the same thing. The last news I heard about Greece was they were broke, severe austerity measures were imposed and they don't have a pot to pee in.

Now F-35's? This doesn't sound like a good idea but hey, it's just the tax-payer footing the bill.

a reply to: LightSpeedDriver

I think its all about turkey because they're the closest to them, so the money is going to be from another country "Germany"

a reply to: Dr UAE

By the time they would be paying for them the cost will have dropped even more. It would be more expensive to buy anything else. And a long term purchase agreement will allow them to spread it out more.

a reply to: Woody510

They're just about the last one to have Phantoms flying.

a reply to: Zaphod58

bro they're ATM machines has zilch, that means Banks without money and a cashless government which should have collapsed a long time a go will afford the money to buy those, explain it please.

a reply to: Dr UAE

They somehow came up with $1B for their F-16 upgrade. I realize their economy is in shambles, but there are ways around it, and they're apparently working all of them.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I understand the way you are thinking but it doesn't add up, the country is so poor and I cant understand the move, looks like a revolution is upcoming if the people are informed

a reply to: Dr UAE

Every country is practically broke and in massive debt.

a reply to: Woody510

Last time I dealt with jtaly was TLP in Belgium around 2000. They had f 104's ffs! They were proud of their gps bubble on top of the jet.

The East Germans has a Mig...23 maybe? Old ass POS! Had about 20 minutes of flightime....lol

a reply to: Zaphod58

Japan and RoK have a bunch still in service. Both looking to be replaced soon. Turkey has a handful. Iran still has quite a few, but who knows what kind of shape they are in. That's about it. Even the last QF-4's at Holloman have all been retired.


Re:Greece
Could sell them the Turkish airframes already allotted without disrupting the line at all.
But that won't help the Turkish-Greco rift.

a reply to: lakenheath24

The F-104S was pretty hot#, actually. Like a whole other plane.

The Turks are gonna wig out if Greece buys the 35. Given their budget issues can they even afford it? As noted this also could simply be a stalking horse to rein in the S400 purchase

a reply to: Zaphod58

How are they going to pay for them? Last I saw Greece was on the verge of bankruptcy. Further, why does Greece even need them? Do they even have the infrastructure, support aircraft, support anything to take advantage of the overwhelming supply of information the F-35 is capable of supplying?

a reply to: EternalSolace

The same way they came up with the money to pay for the F-16V upgrade. Infrastructure will come with the aircraft.

For those asking how Greece can afford to buy these jets it appears the their economy has turned a corner.

The request to pay off the loan early comes a month after the IMF reported that Greece had now entered a period of economic growth "that puts it among the top performers in the eurozone".

Greece seeks early repayment of €10bn IMF loan

a reply to: RadioRobert

The Turks were genocidal towards the Greeks, that rift will never heal. Not until the Invaders are gone and the natural order restored. Why we were ever friendly with them is a major mistake by Western leadership and a political farce at the expense of human dignity.

"The Greek genocide, including the Pontic genocide, was the systematic killing of the Christian Ottoman Greek population carried out in Anatolia during World War I and its aftermath on the basis of their religion and ethnicity."

That being said: Greece is the doorstep to Europe. If a great war between East and West were to happen the front line would be in Greece. That's why; despite the mismanagement of their economy, NATO still heavily subsidizes Greek forces. The F-35 makes sense for any power aligned with NATO. It's the best option for survivability and lethality.

originally posted by: Caughtlurking"The Greek genocide, including the Pontic genocide, was the systematic killing of the Christian Ottoman Greek population carried out in Anatolia

Exactly and from a Greek perspective the genocide is going on to this very day with the holocaust taking place in Christian communities in Syria and Iraq many of them Greek Orthodox. The foreign fighters causing hell on earth came from somewhere and were trained by somebody...................Nearly all recently captured foreign ISIS combatants have TURKISH stamps in their passports. If I was Greek I'd want F35's and lots of them with Turks next door