On Monday, January 29, the president of SYRIZA-PS, with a party delegation, will visit the Ministry of National Defense, “in order to be informed, among other things, about the armament programs contained in the Blinken letter, which include the purchase of F35 aircraft worth 8 .2 billion euros” is stated in a statement by the Head of National Defense of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, Evangelos Apostolakis.

Mr. Apostolakis emphasizes that “our criteria, as we have repeatedly emphasized, are these programs:

  • to satisfy existing operational needs on the basis of an integrated and studied planning that is based on prioritization, on the recommendations of the General Staffs, on the utilization of new technologies and on transparency
  • to have a direct connection with the domestic defense industry, so that the Armed Forces do not become mere customers of foreign defense industries but create added value for the country both financially and in terms of technology and know-how
  • to be carried out within the framework of the country’s fiscal capabilities and the necessary development of its social state”.

In addition to the above, Mr. Apostolakis continues, SYRIZA expects information from the government regarding “if – as it has been systematically claiming for months – conditions have been set by the US to Turkey in the context of the F16 sale and modernization program it approved” .

“At the moment, in the statements of the Presidents of the Committees of the US Senate and Congress there is absolutely no reference to the imposition of conditions for the non-use of aircraft against Greece and Cyprus.

At the same time, the Greek people have the right to know that the Prime Minister’s announcement about the “free” provision of equipment from the USA, full of inaccuracies as these equipment – considered obsolete by the US armed forces – are sure to need upgrading and modernization in order to become operationally capable.

It is neither certain that their acquisition is based on the needs of the staffs, nor that the military leadership considers it useful.

Finally, we emphasize that we are discussing large additional expenditures for equipment programs, while at the same time the demands of the Armed Forces executives have not been met and in fact at a time when the number of resignations of Navy executives appears particularly high. These resignations signal the need for immediate solutions to the problems faced by the men and women of the Armed Forces and their families every day.”