Greece will be procuring the F35 fighter jets immediately, Defence Minister Nikos Panagiotopouos said on Tuesday.

Technical staff consisting of US Pentagon officials participating in the JSF PO (Joint Strike Fighter Program Office) program for the construction of F-35 fighter jets are already in Athens and, as announced by the Ministry of National Defence, met with Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos.

The meeting was also attended by the US Ambassador to Athens, George James Tsounis.

During the meeting, the Minister of National Defence stressed that following the visit of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to the United States, the process of acquiring F-35 aircraft will begin immediately, which will meet the operational requirements of the Air Force.

The Defence Minister stated that the General Staff will take the necessary actions, in the framework of the current procedure for the supply of defence equipment. During the meeting, it was stressed that the acquisition of F-35 aircraft, which will further strengthen the deterrent capability of the country and the interoperability of the Greek and US Armed Forces, reflects the strategic level of bilateral defence relations.

As revealed by “THEMA”, the Greek government asked the United States to buy a large group of American F-35 fighter jets, and the discussion with the team of technocrats of the US Department of Defence from the JSF Program Office is intended to update the information to clarify when the delivery of the F-35s can start, how many 5th generation fighters can be delivered per year and to finalise the characteristics of the aircraft that will take over the defence of the Aegean by the end of the decade.

This is the third time in the last six months that a group of Americans from the JSF Program Office has come to Greece to discuss the details of the contract under negotiation to finalise the formal Letter of Request (LOR), which after approval by the United States Legislature will be converted into a binding letter and will bind Washington to the highest selling prices of F-35s in Greece.