“The F-35 should not be seen as a weapon system. The F-35 is a platform. A system on which all the weapons systems of the country, army, navy, air force come and are connected and can function as a base from which you can handle all the existing weapons in space, in the air, on land and at sea. So it provides us with a completely different level of possibilities, “he told ERT Alkiviadis Stefanis, former Undersecretary of Defense, Honorary Commander of the Army, after the news hidden by the meeting of Kyriakos Mitsotakis with Joe Biden, that Greece acquires before the end of the decade a squadron (18-24) of American 5th generation fighter F 35.
“We hope to add the amazing F-35 aircraft to the Hellenic Air Force before the end of this decade,” he said. Prime Minister.
“At the present time, the international community measures how strong you are in order to be able to protect your interests. The government wants to maintain the current power of the country with prominence in the future and that is why it took comprehensive actions. It strengthens the navy as a whole, it strengthens the air force and the land army and it saw the gap that will be created in the future and that is why it proceeded with the addition of F-35s “, pointed out Mr. Stefanis.
As for the “invisible” F-35 fighter plane, he informed:
“The weapon system itself belongs to the 5th generation of aviation weapon systems – we are already in the process of upgrading our F-16s to the Viper version, to the 4th and something – it is an aircraft that no one can detect with its radar. , is stealth technology, has multiple weapon systems, multiple sensors with which it can handle too many threats from too far away. If Rafal can handle a target 150 kilometers away, can you imagine what the F-35 ″ can do?
He also noted that “Greece, both in terms of the quality of human resources and in terms of the development of its weapons systems, is ranked in the first places in the world in terms of aviation and not only”.
Regarding acquisition of an F-35 squadron, announced by the Prime Minister before the end of this decade, stated that “a squadron of aircraft is from 18 to 24. I believe we will go to 24, F-35. Getting a weapon system is the least you can do about what you need to secure to support it (new infrastructure, training of Air Force pilots and technicians, simulators).
As for the time horizon of their acquisition, he said that “the government saw that then we will have the budgetary space to do it. This time milestone is not accidental, because in 2028 the completion of the Greek F-16 του upgrade program is foreseen.
“In the field of weapons systems, we must make the leap for the future,” he said, “after the situation that will form in the world with the war in Ukraine.”
Regarding the threat of Turkey’s veto on Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO, he noted:
“THE Turkey tries tactically to gain as much as possible on the subject of a tug-of-war policy. “She will come to negotiate exchanges, which for her are considered important to say ‘yes’ to Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO.”
Changing page world history estimated after the end of the war in Ukraine.
Regarding the position of Greece, as an energy hub and the new balances in Greek-Turkish, he noted that “Our attitude towards the US shows that we are a moral, strong ally who does not go to ask and plead but to demonstrate its strength and to say that “” you also have to gain from the alliance with me “that is why it has the appropriate treatment from a big country”.
“Even the threat from President Putin that he could use a nuclear weapon gives rise to the idea that other countries have the same potential threat, the idea that when their conventional weapons run out, “They also have a nuclear weapon and that is very bad for the global balance.”
ERT
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