Greece formalises request for US-made F-35 fighter jets: PM

Greece has formalised a request for US-made F-35 fighter jets, its prime minister said Thursday, with Athens seeking to bolster its airforce amid tension with neighbouring Turkey.

"It is our intention to acquire a squadron of F-35s, with a possible option on a second (squadron)," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at the end of a two-day NATO summit in Madrid.

Mitsotakis said Greece had sent a letter of request for possible delivery of the planes in 2027 or 2028.

Greece's conservative government has been steadily modernising the country's armed forces in the face of threats from neighbouring Turkey.

It has already signed a multi-billion-euro deal with France for Rafale jets and Belharra frigates.

The move was criticised by the main opposition Syriza party for being too costly.

"We are a small country with weak finances," senior Syriza official Nikos Filis told Athens 98.4 radio Thursday.

"The government had said we would purchase Rafales instead of F-35s. Now we are getting both. This story has no end," Filis said.

Mitsotakis said earlier this year there was an "urgent need" to upgrade the Greek air force, which regularly engages in mock dogfights with Turkish jets in Aegean airspace disputed by Ankara.

The conservative Greek PM in 2020 unveiled the country's most ambitious arms purchase programme in decades after a dangerous stand-off with Turkey over hydrocarbon resources and naval influence in the waters off their coasts.

Turkish authorities now accuse Greece of stationing troops on Aegean islands in violation of the peace treaties that followed World War I and World War II.

Athens counters that the troops are stationed in response to the presence of Turkish military units, aircraft and landing craft on the opposite coast.

Biden says US 'should sell' F-16s to Turkey
Madrid (AFP) June 30, 2022 - President Joe Biden on Thursday said the United States should go ahead with the delayed sale of F-16 warplanes to Turkey but noted that Congress needs to give approval.

"We should sell them the F-16 jets and modernise those jets as well," Biden said, adding there was "no quid pro quo" linking the sale to Turkey's approval for Finland and Sweden entering NATO.

Biden added that for the sale, "I need congressional approval to do that and I think I can do that".

The declaration of support from Biden comes after Turkey surprised fellow NATO members at a summit in Madrid by suddenly dropping weeks of opposition to the Finland and Sweden applications to join the alliance.

Unanimous consent by NATO members is required for enlargement.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would send a delegation to the United States "without delay" to convince lawmakers to swiftly approve the sale.

"It's necessary to get support from both Democrats and Republicans. Despite all this, Mr Biden is confident. I hope that we will get a result that fits our friendship and solidarity," Erdogan told a news conference in Madrid.

Turkey is an important NATO member in a strategically sensitive location, but it has had often tense relations with its European partners and Washington, which is the alliance's main military force.

"In politics, yesterday was yesterday, today is today," Erdogan said.

"In politics, a lot can change in 24 hours... There were good days and bad days but Turkish-US relations have continued," he said.

A plan to equip Turkey with state-of-the-art US F-35 stealth fighters fell through after Turkey bought Russia's S-400 anti-aircraft missile system.

Washington saw Ankara's purchase as potentially threatening the security of the F-35 programme.

Turkey next set out to buy new F-16s, as well as obtaining upgrades for its existing, but outdated fleet of the same planes.

However, that deal is also on hold and there has been speculation that Turkey was holding up the NATO accession bids of the two northern European countries to try and leverage concessions.

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