The qualitative advantage
The US government has chosen a peculiar way to handle the triangular agreement with Greece and Turkey for the sale of F-16 and F-35 fighter jets. And now it will have to manage Ankara, which does not accept that the deal contains any guarantees or commitments on its part. Athens preferred, and rightly so, a more transparent and straightforward handling, but it can rely on the assurances of members of Congress who know what the State Department has told them.
Part of the agreement, which was the product of long negotiations, was the assurance to Greece that it will have a “qualitative advantage” in the supply of American armaments in relation to Turkey. This is ensured, at the moment, as long as Greece acquires F-35s without the same happening for Turkey. However, it is not at all certain whether it will apply in the event that there is a change in Ankara’s position on the issue of the Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems. It is also an assurance that you will not find written in any agreement or letter. In other words, it has nothing to do with the famous letter from Henry Kissinger, the late former US secretary of state and national security adviser, to then Greek foreign minister Dimitris Bitsios, which provided guarantees for maintaining a balance in the Aegean.
The Greek government can, of course, specify and promote with its allies in the US Congress what it wants in order to maintain the “qualitative advantage.” It may be some weapon system or ammunition that only Greece would have. It could even be some kind of electronic countermeasures or measures against cyberattacks. Whatever it is, it will have to be something that Greece can bear financially because it cannot get involved in an arms race that leads to fiscal impasses.
For now, all of this remains in a gray and ambiguous area. Greece has currently secured the used weapons systems and the green light for the F-35s. And to tell the truth, even if Athens had secured something more, no one could have assured us that it would be valid on January 22, 2025, for obvious reasons.
