Greece has reached a deal with the US worth up to $4 billion for weapons purchases and F-16 upgrades, Reuters reported.
The package would upgrade older F-16s to the Viper configuration and supply advanced missiles and bombs for the country’s F-16 Vipers, planned F-35 fleet, and Black Hawk helicopters.
Greece spends nearly 3.5 percent of its GDP on defense, according to Reuters, and plans to invest approximately 28 billion euros ($31 billion) in modernizing its armed forces through 2036.
European Defence Agency figures put the country’s defense expenditure last year at 6.9 billion euros, equivalent to 2.8 percent of GDP.
Greece’s F-16 Upgrade Program
Greece received its 60th F-16 Viper in September, as Lockheed Martin and Hellenic Aerospace Industry continue converting the country’s existing fighters to the upgraded configuration.
The aircraft feature APG-83 electronically scanned radars, new mission computers, and updated cockpit displays.
Conversion work takes place at Hellenic Aerospace Industry’s Tanagra facilities, north of Athens, with technical support from Lockheed Martin.
Deliveries of upgraded fighters are scheduled to continue through 2027.
Greece received its first two Vipers in September 2022, four years after approving the conversion program.
The 2018 agreement was valued at $1.45 billion, following an earlier US proposal to upgrade 120 aircraft, estimated at more than $2.4 billion.