Procurement of Israeli weapon systems gets nod
The Government Council for Foreign and Defense Affairs (KYSEA), Greece’s top decision-making body on foreign affairs and defense matters, on Tuesday green-lighted the acquisition of Israeli weapons systems.
The exhaustive negotiations with the Israelis seem to have borne fruit and the program was approved at the meeting presided over by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The approval is for at least 300 Spice bombs, the air-to-surface precision guided munitions manufactured by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. These are general-purpose bombs, like those destroyed in the fire at the Nea Anchialos weapons depot last month.
Greece also plans to acquire Rampage missiles, an air-to-surface weapon developed by Israel Military Industries.
The Israeli-made weapons will dramatically increase the attack capabilities of both the upgraded F-16s in the Viper version and the older Block 50/30s. This is a long-standing request of the Hellenic Air Force and Hellenic National Defense General Staff (GEETHA), as Greece has one of the largest and most modern fleets of F-16s, but without the weapons that take full advantage of their capabilities.
The next step will be for the General Directorate of Defense Equipment and Investments to draw up the deal so that Greece and Israel can sign an interstate agreement as soon as possible.
