The first Rafale jet for the Hellenic Air Force has been delivered to Greece today.
The Hellenic Air Force (HAF) took delivery of the first Rafale, a two-seater B model, during a ceremony hosted by Dassault Aviation at the company Flight Test Center in Istres, France, and attended by Greece’s Minister of National Defense Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, on Jul. 21, 2021.
The first delivery comes after Greece announced last year the acquisition of 18 Rafale F3-R, to replace the oldest Mirage 2000 currently in service in the Hellenic Air Force. Greece signed a 2.3 Billion Euro (2.8B USD) deal with France in January.
By the end of the year, Greece will receive the first six second-hand aicraft; six new ones are planned to be delivered next year, while the last six (second-hand) Rafales are expected to be delivered in 2023.
The first aircraft delivered to the HAF should be in the F3-O4T standard, the one before the latest, the F3-R upgrade, that includes some major enhancements like the new Thales RBE2 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, the Spectra (Système de Protection et d’Évitement des Conduites de Tir du Rafale or, in English, Self-Protection Equipment Countering Threats to Rafale Aircraft) electronic warfare system, an Auto-GCAS (Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System) and the new laser-guided variant if the Sagem AASM “Hammer” (Armement Air-Sol Modulaire “Highly Agile Modular Munition Extended Range”). The Rafale F3-R will also receive the MBDA Meteor missile and the Thales Talios targeting pod.