Greece Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Tuesday evening that the deal for the purchase of 18 French-made Rafale fighter jets will be signed in the coming days.
Speaking at the Parliament during the budget debated, Mitsotakis said that the delivery of the Rafale jets will be 20201.
A few days ago, media reported that the French defense Minister was due to visit Athens for the signature of the multi-million deal before Christmas.
“Never before has such a complex and important armament program been carried out so quickly and efficiently,” he said.
He added that the supply of frigates, drones, the upgrade of F-16s, the supply of modern equipment for the Armed Forces, as well as the recruitment of 15,000 professionals of all specialties over a period of 5 years will proceed. He had revealed the full armament program in September 2020.
Mitsotakis stressed that under the budget for 2021, defense spending reaches 5.5 billion euros, a 57% compared to 2019, promoting 105 armaments programs worth 11.5 billion.
A few days ago, Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos had pointed out that that the government would bring the defense agreement for the Rafale to the Palriament for a vote “in a few days.”
The Defense Minister said also that “within 4 months, we implemented such a large armaments agreement.”
Experts estimated that each Rafale jet would cost 75 million euros.
