The strategic importance of Crete for the nation’s defence was emphasised by the minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias during a visit to the Air Force’s 115th Combat Wing at Souda air base last Friday, 23rd February. The minister was able to take a 45-minute flight over the Aegean in one of the F-16 fighter jets of the Combat Wing’s 340 Squadron, piloted by Wing Commander Iosif Daskalomarkakis. He was accompanied by three similar aircraft, additionally carrying the Chief of Defence General Staff General Dimitrios Houpis and the Chief of Air Force General Staff Lieutenant General Dimosthenis Grigoriadis.

Mr Dendias, who had arrived from Athens in a C-130 transport plane, was accompanied by deputy Defence minister Ioannis Kefalogiannis and Chania MPs Sevi Voloudaki and Alexandros Makrogiannakis. He was wearing a 340 Squadron flight suit in anticipation of the trip in the fighter jet, which began around 11.00 am. The aircraft were F16 Vipers – the latest variant of an aircraft which is used by some two dozen air forces worldwide – and the flight was a tour of the southern Aegean taking in Heraklion, Karpathos, Astypalaia, Kos, Mykonos and Mylos before returning to Souda.

Addressing journalists after the flight, Mr Dendias said: “It is a very great pleasure to be here today, at the premises of the 115th Combat Wing … in Crete, an area of enormous strategic importance. As is the strategic role played by Greece itself.” He spoke of his “unique opportunity to fly in an F-16, and indeed in an F-16 Viper, its most up-to-date version, and to understand the extremely difficult conditions under which Air Force personnel are called upon to carry out their work, their obligations towards their country.”

The defence readiness of the Air Force
“The Air Force serves two roles,” the minister said. “First of all it is our country’s basic deterrent force, but it also provides an important service to society as a whole. And I would like to say that its effectiveness and the great capabilities of its personnel provide a guarantee of the country’s security. But also beyond that of security in our wider region, for the deterrence of every act of aggression and every form of revisionism.”

Mr Dendias referred to the country’s defence spending programmes, stressing that the Greek state “continues the effort to reinforce and modernise our Air Force. The delivery of the [French] Rafales, of the F-16 Viper, strengthens our Combat Wings. Supplies are under way of weapons systems which upgrade our already considerable operational capabilities. As you know, we have already discussed the acquisition of the F-35, the most modern aircraft in the world, which will undoubtedly strengthen our country’s operational and deterrent capacity.

“In the context of Agenda 2030, Greece is also trying to regenerate, to recreate our defence industry and to create a new system of innovation which will give us the opportunity to produce our own weapons systems, exploiting our country’s capacities and human capital.”

In conclusion he thanked the Air Force staff for their top-level performance of their duties. “They work 24 hours in 24, seven days a week,” he said, “ensuring that the aircraft are operational and ready to protect our country. I would like therefore to express, to the pilots as well as all the staff who support these aircraft from the ground and the civilian personnel, the deep gratitude of the Greek state for their contribution, their great contribution to the defence of the territorial integrity of our homeland, and to congratulate the current Chief of Defence General Staff and the current Chief of the Air Force for the officers whom they command.”

There followed an exchange of gifts and a meal, after which the minister went on to lay a wreath at the Noratlas monument at Maleme, which commemorates the crash of a Nord Noratlas aircraft of the Greek Air Force at Nicosia on 22nd July 1974. The aircraft, which was part of a clandestine operation to transport a battalion of Greek commandoes from Crete to Cyprus in response to the Turkish invasion, was mistakenly fired upon by Greek Cypriot anti-aircraft guns at Nicosia International Airport and crashed 3 km from the airport with the loss of 31 lives.
(Haniotika Nea, 24-02-24)

The Defence minister Nikos Dendias
Nikos Dendias is one of the present government’s most experienced politicians. Born in Corfu in 1959, he went to school at Athens College, subsequently receiving a law degree from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, a Masters in Maritime and Insurance Law from University College London, and one in Criminology from the London School of Economics.

An active member of Nea Dimokratia since 1978, he was first elected as an MP for Corfu in 2004. He has held several ministerial posts, as Minister for Justice (2009), for Public Order and Citizen Protection (2012-2014), for Development and Competitiveness (2014), and for Foreign Affairs in the previous government, before being appointed minister of National Defence in June 2023.

As Foreign minister under Kyriakos Mitsotakis (2019-23), he became well-known for his often testy exchanges with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu at the height of the Turkish provocations which marked the first term of the Mitsotakis government. These included the attempted weaponisation of migrant flows to the Aegean islands and on the Evro land border, almost daily incursions of Turkish military aircraft into Greek airspace, calls for the demilitarisation of Greek islands near the Turkish mainland, and pronouncements calling into question Greek sovereignty over these. Their relations improved after the Greek response to the earthquakes in Eastern Turkey of February 2023.

After his flight in the F-16, Mr Dendias told journalists that the trip had been a “tremendous experience” especially the low-flying which the pilot confirmed had been at an altitude of 100 metres. Reported to be in good form despite the G-forces he had been subjected to during the flight, he joked with the deputy Defence minister Ioannis Kefalogiannis, “Gianni, if you were hoping to become Defence minister today, I’ve disappointed you.” The Squadron presented Mr Dendias with a flying helmet inscribed with his name and, after he had revealed that he was a collector of aircraft models, with a small-scale replica of the F-16

The F-16
The first flight of the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon took place 50 years ago in February 1974, a mere 70 years after the Wright Brothers’ first flight at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina. Now manufactured by Lockheed Martin, it has been regularly upgraded and modified over the years, with over 4,600 manufactured since 1976. Procured by the air forces of some two dozen nations apart from the US, as of 2015 it was the world’s most common fixed-wing aircraft in military service. Because of its capacity for upgrading both structurally and in capability, it is predicted to remain in service to 2060 and beyond.

Designed as a lightweight, low-cost aircraft which would be easy to manufacture and maintain, it was the first production fighter aircraft intentionally designed to be slightly aerodynamically unstable, with a fly-by-wire control system, making it extremely manoeuvrable.

The latest version of the F-16, codenamed Viper or Block 70/72, was launched in February 2012, and has been at the centre of the recent strained relations between Turkey and the US, and by extension Greece. Turkey’s decision to purchase the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system, against strong objections from the US which saw it as a threat to NATO, led to the imposition of sanctions and Turkey’s exclusion from the manufacturing partnership for the advanced F-35 fighter in 2019. Since then, the Mitsotakis government’s decisions to purchase 24 Rafale fighter jets from France and up to 40 F-35s from the US, as well as upgrading 122 of its existing fleet of F-16s, have left Turkey at a disadvantage as far as air defence is concerned. Turkey has therefore been pressing the US government to allow it to purchase 40 F16 Vipers, as well as upgrades for its existing fleet of 79 earlier models.

Having been consistently blocked by the US Congress’s Armed Services Committee, and subsequently held up pending Turkey’s approval of Sweden’s admission to NATO, the deal was finally approved by the White House at the end of January, while assurances were given to Congress that the execution of the $20 billion deal would be provisional on the jets not being used in any aggressive acts against NATO members, i.e. Greece.