Greece receives ‘game-changer’ Rafale aircraft from France

A ceremony at the Tanagra Air Force Base marked the arrival, in which a Greek priest blessed the jets and their pilots.

“Unlike radar, this doesn’t let the enemy know when they’ve been spotted because it’s not emitting a beam,” he told Al Jazeera.

“The most important thing of all is this plane comes with the Meteor air-to-air missile, which is currently considered the best of its kind in the Western arsenal.

Defence Minister Nikos Panayotopoulos told Al Jazeera that Rafale would be doing more important work.

“In older aircraft, if the radar locked on a target, only that radar was locked on it.

Dassault Aviation, which makes the aircraft, sold Greece six new aircraft that were already in production for Egypt.

Unlike Turkey, which is building up its own defence industry using relatively simple technology, Greece has sought a leap to high technology through a strategic relationship with France.

“So France’s decision to reinforce Greece’s defence with the Rafale is seen as a French decision to put pressure on Turkey using technology Turkey doesn’t have … Greece has access to weaponry that balances out Turkey’s numerical superiority.