Greece quickly overtakes Turkey with fighters of the fourth and a half and fifth generation

According to Fars International News Agency, an American publication wrote on Monday that Turkey is gradually coming to terms with the fact that the Greek Air Force can soon deploy a more advanced fighter fleet.

“Forbes” magazine wrote in this context, General Abedin Onal, the retired commander of the Turkish Air Force, believes that if Turkey’s project to modernize F-16 fighters fails and Greece realizes its projects, the Greek side in terms of combat aircraft in 2025 will have the upper hand. Therefore, Turkey’s plan to purchase 40 F-16 Vipers and modernize 80 of its F-16 fighter fleet is critical.

According to the report, Turkey hopes that the US approves a $20 billion contract it has requested in October 2021 for 40 new F-16 block jets and 79 modernization kits to upgrade the aging F-16 fighters in the fleet. However, Congress has not yet approved it, and influential Democratic Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey continues to insist that until Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan makes sweeping changes in his policy, the roadblock to this will remain in place. It will be a deal.

Moreover, even if the sale is unanimously approved tomorrow, analysts have noted that Turkey will still have to wait a while to receive its new block of F-16 fighters due to the manufacturer’s backlog caused by high demand. Menendez also supports the sale of fifth generation F-35 stealth fighters to Greece. Athens wants at least 20 of this fifth generation fighter.

General Onal’s prediction that Greece can gain the upper hand by 2025 is interesting. Athens expects to take delivery of 24 fourth-and-a-half-generation Rafale fighter jets it purchased from France by January 2025.

Greece probably won’t receive any F-35 fighters until the second half of this decade. Overall, all of these jets are more advanced than the F-16 block that forms the backbone of Turkey’s fighter fleet, and while Turkey will undoubtedly retain a quantitative advantage, Greece is rapidly gaining a qualitative advantage.

While in the Global Firepower Index 2023, Turkey is more powerful than Greece in every category, including the air force, but Athens can gain a clear qualitative advantage by purchasing new fighters.

At the end of this article, it is stated that Turkey is also considering the “Ozgur” renovation project. This project includes installing new avionics equipment on old F-16 fighters. While Turkey’s ability to significantly upgrade many of its F-16s is impressive, the country’s larger fighter fleet appears to ultimately be technologically inferior to its Greek rival for the foreseeable future.

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