Athens irked by US delays in arms timetable
Athens is waiting for the fulfillment of everything that has been discussed in relation to the further armament of Greece by the US, as the timetable set is not being met, not least that regarding the F-35 fighter jets.
More specifically, there is some irritation in Athens over the delay of Washington’s Letter of Acceptance (LOA) in response to the letter in which the Hellenic Air Force requested the start of the negotiation process for the F-35 acquisition. The US response was supposed to have been sent before the canceled (due to illness) visit of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis this week (January 24-26). The request was sent in June 2022 and the delay in the reply is clearly related to the previous deadlock in Washington’s negotiations with Ankara – regarding Turkey’s request for modernization kits for its F-16s and its acquisition of new jets, as well as Sweden’s NATO membership.
Nonetheless, Athens anticipates that the LOA will arrive in the short term, before the Turkish F-16 deal is cleared by Congress. Regarding Turkey’s request, Athens wants it tied to the condition that a letter is drafted underlining that the F-16s must not be used against other NATO allies. However, a diplomatic source noted on Thursday that Athens cannot possibly place restrictions on US arms exports.
In this area too, the US has not promised anything concrete, a development that is adding to Athens’ irritation.
A second condition concerns the reinforcement of Greece with weapons systems from the US stockpile. The case for US State Department Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grants has now been reduced to about $200 million, as Athens failed to take advantage of the window of opportunity that existed to claim up to $2 billion that was available.
