America arming Greece with ships, C-130s
Support package from US Armed Forces’ stockpile expected to be officially announced Saturday
The package to assist Greece with military systems from the US Armed Forces’ arsenal is expected to be officially announced on Saturday morning in Athens in a letter from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
An important feature of the weapon systems that will be delivered is that they will be free of charge, along with a grant of $200 million from the US State Department’s Foreign Military Financing (FMF).
Athens will receive two C-130s from the US Air Force, to strengthen the Hellenic Air Force’s ailing transport fleet. In addition, four Littoral Combat Ship-class vessels will be delivered.
The package also includes the addition of Greece to the Constellation frigate program, which is an Italian project to create a fleet of 20 ships of this class for the US Navy. In effect, Greece will enter a program for a warship that few countries will have in the future. The package also includes Bradley armored fighting vehicles (62 vehicles, barring any contingency), and US Coast Guard patrol boats to be received by the Hellenic Navy (it has already received four Island-class boats).
Mitsotakis will reportedly respond to Blinken in a letter which will also raise the issue of Turkey’s reinforcement with F-16s. In any case the acquisition of F-16s by Turkey will first have to be approved by the US Congress. The PM’s letter is expected to state that Athens welcomes the strengthening of allied defense capabilities in a way that takes into account the security concerns of the members of the Alliance.
At the same time, the procurement process for fifth-generation F-35 fighters is also being unblocked, with Defense Minister Nikos Dendias expecting to receive on Monday the Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) for the start of negotiations. The initial LOA will essentially be a draft, as it first needs to be approved by Congress. However, the issue is considered a done deal as Congress has already practically given its nod of approval.
As for the contents of the LOA, Athens had requested the procurement of 20+20 F-35 aircraft. However, the final number may be lower after negotiations. Also in the coming months, discussions will progress on the procurement of 35 new Black Hawk helicopters to the tune of around 1.1 billion euros.
