A draft bill of the Ministry of Defense for the acquisition of 18 French Rafale fighter aircraft has been submitted to the Defense Committee of the Greek Parliament, a step before the voting.
The bill with the title “Approval of draft defense contracts” contains five articles. The main ones are the draft contract for the supply of the fighter jets, the draft contract for the subsequent support of the fighters as well as the contract for the supply and subsequent support of equipment (weapons) of the French aircraft.
Six of the Rafale fighter jets included in the contract will be new and 12 used and the cost amounts to 2.32 billion euros.
This includes 1.92 billion euros for the aircraft and an additional 400 million euros for the weapons they carry.
The discussion in the Committee on Armament Programs and Contracts will last two days, then the bill will be submitted to the Plenary Session to be discussed on January 14 and 15.
The agreement with France is scheduled to be signed next week, when the French Defense Minister will visit Athens.
According to media reports, Florence Parly will have in her luggage also a draft agreement for four Belharra frigates. Cost for each one: 1 billion euros. three of them should be constructed in Greece, Star TV reported on Tuesday.
