Ukraine May Get More F-16s: Greece Shares Plans – Al Jazeera

Greece wants to sell the US old F-16 fighters for further modernization and transfer to Ukraine.

Greece is planning to decommission 32 old F-16 Block-30 fighter jets. The country wants to sell them to the United States of America so that the planes can be modernized and transferred to Ukraine.

This was reported by Al Jazeera, citing sources in the Greek army. It is noted that Greece plans to upgrade 82 F-16 fighters to Block-70 and purchase 24 fourth-generation Rafale fighters from France. The US Congress Committee also authorized Greece to purchase up to 40 fifth-generation F-35 multirole fighters.

One report said Ukraine could count on 60 decommissioned F-16s from Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands. However, the country needs about 150 fighters, so 32 planes from Greece would help fill the gap.

Greece would rather sell the planes back to the US, where they would be upgraded and then handed over to Kyiv, Al Jazeera sources said. Some military experts are wary of handing over dozens of fighters.

“Unfortunately, because of our neighbors, we are obliged to have a very powerful armed forces. The sale of 32 F-16 fighters … will open a big hole in the air force. … There must be a quorum of about 200 aircraft, which cannot be the case with more modern and expensive fighters,” said a Greek air force engineer, speaking on condition of anonymity.

(C)UNIAN 2024