Greece to acquire 18 Rafale Jet Fighters to boost its Air Power

Amidst heightening tension with its Mediterranean neighbour Turkey, Greece has decided to acquire18 Rafale jet fighters from French Dassault to beef up its air power. The official announcement was made by the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on September 12.

Talks between the French and Greek governments are at an advanced stage for a contract to be signed soon. The acquisition will see the Hellenic Air Force add a brand new Rafale squadron to their existing fleet of Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcons, Dassault Mirage 2000s and the ageing McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantoms.

In addition to the acquisition of 18 Rafales, 10 Mirage 2000s are planned to be upgraded to the Mirage 2000-5 standard. Athens had ordered 40 Mirage 2000s in 1985, and 15 Mirage 2000-5s in 2000.

“I am delighted with this announcement, which reinforces the exceptional relationship we have had with Greece for nearly half a century, and I thank the Greek authorities for their confidence in us once again,” says Eric Trappier, chairman and chief executive of Dassault Aviation.

“Dassault Aviation is fully mobilised to meet the operational needs expressed by the Greek air force, and thus contribute to ensuring Greece’s sovereignty and the safety of the Greek people”, he added.

The mainstay of the Greek air force is a fleet of 114 Lockheed Martin F-16C/Ds, out of which it plans to upgrade 80+ jets to F-16V standard. This will see the jets receive an active electronically scanned array radar in the form of the Northrop Grumman APG-83, which offers a number of improvements including greater detection and tracking ranges, interleaved air-to-air and air-to-surface modes, and improved EW protection.

However, Rafales will take Hellenic Air Force’s air combat capability to a new level.

Notably, apart from the home country’s French Air Force/Navy operating the Rafale fighters, Greece would be the 4th country to receive the Rafale fighters after it was selected by India in January 2012 after a gruelling competition involving six fighter aircraft: Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin F-21, Mikoyan MiG-35, and Saab JAS 39 Gripen. Incidentally, even though India was the first country to select the French fighter, the first export order received by Dassault was from Egypt which on February 16, 2015, became the Rafale’s first international customer when it officially placed an order for 24 Rafales, valued at Euro 5.2 billion.

Qatar was the second country to sign a Euro 6.3 billion-deal for 24 Rafales, with an option for 12 more. The deal apart from the aircraft, included long-range air-to-air and air-to-air missiles, as also 36 Qatari pilots, 100 technical personnel and unspecified number of intelligence officers.

India, while it opened up doors for the export of Rafales – which the French Dassault had been trying for a long time – finally signed the deal on September 23, 2016 for 36 Rafales – with an option for 18 more at the same inflation-adjusted price – for Euro 7.8 billion. The deal also included training of a specified number of air and ground crew, maintenance support and acquisition of advanced weapons such as the Meteor BVR air-to-air missiles and SCALP air-to-surface missiles.

With the border tensions increasing with China in its Ladakh sector, India may be considering purchase of additional 36 aircraft to form two more Rafale squadrons. The move would also help Indian Air Force (IAF) to build up its flagging combat aircraft squadrons’ strength.

The first batch of five Rafales (3 single-seat and 2 twin-seat), flown by IAF pilots touched down at IAF’s Ambala airbase on July 29, 2020. While the formal induction ceremony took place September 10, No. 17 Squadron, ‘Golden arrows’ – the first IAF squadron to receive the Rafales – had hit the ground running from ‘Day 1’ with consolidation exercises to be ready for any operational eventuality, in the quickest possible time.

Notably, the Rafale has been used in combat over Afghanistan, Libya, Mali, Iraq and Syria by the French Air Force (FAF).

Acquisition of Rafales by Greece could prove to be a challenge for its archrival Turkey whose S-300/400 AD system, even though formidable it its own right, could be outwitted by the French 4th Gen+ fighter with its long-range precision strike weapons. A similar situation could also obtain in a possible Sino-Indian military scenario.