This weekend arrived the official announcement of the Greek purchase of 18 Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft. Some terms of the contract have yet to be defined but something is already known: the French contract with Greece would combine new and used aircraft for a total of 18 Rafales.
The French government initially proposed the construction of 8 new aircraft to support the Dassault Aviation production line but the Greek authorities would rather lean in favor of 6 new Rafales in order to reduce the cost of the program, and to have an operational squadron as soon as possible.
At first it was indicated that second-hand aircraft would be given away from Paris to Athens but in the latest information there is no longer this reference even though it seems that the cost of used aircraft would be very low (almost gift).
In any case anyway the second-hand planes are extremely recent since all of the standard F3-O4T. A standard deployed in the French Air Force between the end of 2012 and 2018. Equipped with the SCALP (Storm Shadow ) missile and the AESA RBE-2 radar, these 18 aircraft will offer Greece unquestionable air superiority against Turkey.
Flying for the Hellenic Air Force, the Rafale is intended to perform air supremacy, interdiction, aerial reconnaissance, ground support, in-depth strike, anti-ship strike and nuclear deterrence missions.
