Greek Prime Minister announced a tough response to possible Turkish aggression

Greek skies are protected like never before, Greece has strengthened its armed forces and is ready to respond to any aggression, and any “attack” by Turkey could be a disorderly retreat, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during a visit to the Tanagra Air Base and the Hellenic Aviation Industry (EAV).

Mitsotakis attended and spoke at a ceremony to hand over to the Air Force the Security of Supply and Information (SSI – Security of Supply and Information) projects and the fifth F-16 aircraft upgraded to Viper level, the prime minister’s press office reported.

The F-16 upgrade program to Viper level began in 2020, with the first aircraft received by the Greek Air Force in September 2022.

“Today, two milestone events and another important page in our defense history are being written in Tanagra. The fifth modernized F-16 Viper is ready to fly out of Tanagra from here and go to Crete for service. And here the EAV Technical Center is acquiring two more important Lockheed Martin production facilities as part of its long partnership with the national aviation industry,” Mitsotakis said.

“With the Viper aircraft, the new also upgraded Block 50 and Block 52 aircraft, and those planned, with the new 24 Rafale aircraft that we will receive in full within a year, and later with the F-35 squadron, as Greece has officially expressed interest in joining this important fifth generation aircraft program, the Greek sky is protected like never before,” he said.

He said this comes at a time when, in fact, “formidable neighbors,” instead of co-producing, are now definitively excluded from the fifth-generation fighter aircraft program.

“And instead of having similar fighters, they’re struggling to get a chance to upgrade, perhaps someday, their own F-16s. That’s a complete reversal of the picture,” Mitsotakis said.
He said Turkey could “land in a harsh reality.”

“In the realm of overt threats, we respond with a strong readiness to any thunderous aggression. And those who brag that they can ‘come suddenly one night,’ know that they themselves can wake up one night and land in harsh reality. And let them know then that the more they raise their voice, the more they significantly lower their credibility, and that each of their ‘assaults’ could be a disorderly retreat before the triangle of international law, our thriving armed forces and our strong alliances,” the Greek prime minister said.