Will Greece acquire RAF’s 30 retiring Eurofighter Typhoons?
The Hellenic Air Force is reportedly considering the acquisition of the 30 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets of the Royal Air Force, due to be retired by 2025, according to Nikos Panagiotopoulos, the Greek Minister of Defense.
“All possible options are being considered to find the most suitable solution, in order to further upgrade the operational capabilities of the Air Force,” Panagiotopoulos said when questioned about the prospect by Kyriakos Velopoulos, president of the conservative party Ellinikí Lýsi.
Those 30 aircraft would come as a great opportunity for the Hellenic Air Force to retire the 18 antiqued McDonnell-Douglas F-4E Phantom II jets it is currently operating.
Faced with heightened territorial tensions with Turkey, Greece has been modernizing its fighter fleet. In mid-September, the Greek government confirmed that an order for six Dassault Rafale fighter jets would be placed, in addition to 18 French-made fighter jets already ordered for the Hellenic Air Force in January 2021.
The 2025 retirement of the 30 Typhoon Tranche 1 fighter jets in the sustainment fleet of the Royal Air Force was announced in early September 2021. It raised controversy as the fighter jets would be retired at just 42% of their useful life (2544.8 flying hours).
The Tranche 1 variant of the aircraft, the eldest of the four developed, is limited to the use of air-air missiles and has very limited air-ground capabilities without the use of an external pod.
