Greek air force

Four Turkish F-16 and two F-4 fighter jets flying in three formations entered the Athens Flight Informational Region (FIR) on several occasions in the northeastern and southeastern Aegean on Monday.

They were chased off by Greek air force pilots in line with international rules of engagement. Two of the six fighter jets were armed.

Ankara is digging in its heels on the procurement of super-advanced Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems and has declared that it is determined to go ahead with the receipt of the first batch in July and that the system will be used to shield the Aegean and several other areas.

Hundreds of aircraft take-offs in and dozens of battle simulations were included in the 12-day Iniohos multinational exercise, which ended at the Andravida base in the Peloponnese on Friday.

A Turkish helicopter and three pairs of F-16 fighter jets violated Greece's national air space on several occasions on Monday and entered the Athens Flight Informational Region.

They were chased off by Greek air force pilots, who had to engage in mock dogfights in two instances, the state-run ANA-MPA news agency reported.

Two Turkish fighter aircraft reportedly harassed the Chinook helicopter carrying Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the Greek Armed Forces Chief Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis as they were flying from the islet of Ro to Rhodes on Tuesday afternoon.

The Greek parliament announced on Friday it will support financially the family of 34-year-old Greek Air Force pilot Giorgos Baltadoros who died when his fighter jet plunged into the sea in the central Aegean on Thursday.

Main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed on Thursday his sorrow for the death of the Greek air force pilot who died when his fighter jet crashed into the sea about nine miles northeast of the island of Skyros, saying he was a hero.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday paid tribute to the Greek air force pilot who was killed when his Mirage 2000-5 crashed into the central Aegean shortly before landing on the island of Skyros earlier in the day.

The Greek air force has intercepted a Turkish military drone that violated Greece's national airspace in the southeastern Aegean, Kathimerini has learned.

The Turkish Anka unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV ANKA) twice entered Greek airspace above the Dodecanese island of Rhodes, at an altitude of 19,000-20,000 feet on Thursday.

Greek air force members set up on the aircraft the coffins of the remains of five Greek sailors who were killed in the summer of 1964 when Turkish warplanes attacked their patrol boat "Paethon" during fighting between the east Mediterranean island-nation's Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities at Larnaca International Airport on Tuesday.