With the Hellenic Air Force taking delivery of its first Dassault Rafales in January, Babak Taghvaee reviews all aspects of Greece’s procurement of the type in the country’s ongoing bid for air supremacy over the Aegean
On January 19, 2022, the first pair of twin-seat Dassault Rafale DG combat trainers (serials 401 and 402) and four single-seat Rafale EG multirole fighters (410, 411, 412, and 413) for the Hellenic Air Force (HAF) touched down at Tanagra Air Base, to join the resident 114 Combat Wing’s 332 All Weather Squadron ‘Geraki’ (Hawk).
Shortly after the jets arrived on Greek soil for the first time, the Mediterranean nation’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said: “Today, our homeland welcomes a force multiplier that upgrades our country on not only an operational and technological level, but also a geopolitical level. The Rafale renders our air force one of the most powerful in Europe and the Mediterranean. This is a new chapter in Greece’s regional capability.”
