ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Greece signed a 2.3 billion euro ($ 2.8 billion) deal with France on Monday to buy 18 Rafale fighter jets, as tensions remain high with neighboring Turkey.
Florence Parly, the French Minister of Defense, has signed an agreement in Athens for the delivery of 12 used and six new aircraft built by Dassault Aviation over two years, starting in July.
France has joined Greece in a dispute over the borders of the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean, which has brought NATO members Greece and Turkey several times to the brink of war in recent decades.
Tensions rose again last summer when a Turkish exploration mission in disputed waters triggered a dangerous military build-up.
Greece and Turkey have agreed to resume talks aimed at resolving the dispute peacefully. Senior diplomats from the two countries met in Istanbul on Monday to resume the process, which had been interrupted for almost five years.
But Athens says it will continue a multi-billion euro program to upgrade its military after years of cuts due to the country’s financial crisis.
France and the United States are competing to supply the Greek navy with new frigates, while the Greek government recently approved plans to cooperate with Israeli defense electronics firm Elbit Systems to create a new military flight academy in southern Greece.
“Improving the capabilities of the Greek Air Force through the purchase of new fighter jets and the new state-of-the-art training center is essential for Greece to show credible deterrence,” said Michael Tanchum, a senior at the Austrian Institute for European Policy. and security, he told the Associated Press.
“It also gives Athens a greater capacity to exercise greater strategic autonomy when EU and NATO cadres are deemed inadequate, making Greece more of a player in itself.”
Starting in May, compulsory national service in the Greek Armed Forces will be increased from nine to 12 months to increase the number of people serving in uniform. Parly, who also met with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, announced that France would join two Greek military exercises later this year, participating with Rafale planes from the French air force.
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