Greece-Turkey arms race continues

The green light given by the United States to Greece's acquisition of the F-35 multi-role fighter and to the sale of F-16 fighters and upgrade kits to Turkey highlights the fact that the two nominal NATO allies are actually facing each other, vying for supremacy in the air, land and sea.

The F-35 sale will confirm Greece's advantage as far as fighters are concerned. However, Turkey's greater weapons systems building capabilities underscore its own advantage in unmanned aerial vehicles (UVAs) and ships. This lack of building capability recently forced Greece to scale back its acquisition of naval vessels, despite the civilian and military leadership's repeatedly stated commitment to significantly upgrade the country's naval capabilities by 2030.

Greece's Air Force already possesses the advanced French-made Rafale fighter and is upgrading 84 F-16s to the Viper...