Athens has signed an official request for the acquisition of 20 F-35 fighters to the competent American authorities which is expected to be sent soon.

Greece will officially request 20 F-35 aircraft to be held, as previously announced by the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and another 20 under condition.

The process will be accelerated as the political and military leadership of the Department of Defence will travel to the United States in the coming days to discuss the request.

More specifically, the Minister of National Defence, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, signed the request before leaving for Madrid and the NATO Summit. The request was then sent to the Directorate-General for Armaments, from where it will be sent to the USA.

The goal is for the Greek request to reach the US authorities before July 18, when the Minister of National Defence will pay an official visit to the US.

The immediate start of the procedures for the acquisition of F-35 aircraft was announced by Panagiotopoulos, in the aftermath of the Prime Minister’s visit to the USA. The Minister of National Defence had a meeting a month ago with executives of the program (JSF PO – Joint Strike Fighter Program Office) for the F-35 fighter aircraft. The meeting was also attended by the new US Ambassador to Athens, George Tsounis.