<div><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Greece’s prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis today welcomed a US decision to approve the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Athens.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>Ending months of negotiations, the US government yesterday approved the US$8.6 billion sale, as well as a separate US$23 billion deal to sell 40 F-16 warplanes to Turkey.</div><div><br></div><div>“Today is an important day for our national defence and for Greek diplomacy,” Mitsotakis said in a statement.</div><div><br></div><div>“Greece is officially on track to acquire up to 40 new generation F-35 combat planes.”</div><div><br></div><div>Mitsotakis said he had received a letter from US secretary of state Antony Blinken which “showed the strategic strength of Greek-US relations”.</div><div><br></div><div>In the letter, Blinken said, “Greece has taken remarkable steps to modernize its defense capabilities. I look forward to increasing our cooperation and developing a more robust strategic relationship between our armed forces.”</div><div><br></div><div>As required by US law, the state department notified Congress of the agreements, which were held up until Ankara ratified Sweden’s Nato membership.</div><div><br></div><div>In addition to the F-35s, Greece will “acquire for free a very large quantity of equipment which will decisively strengthen the three branches of the armed forces and the Greek coastguard service,” the prime minister said.</div><div><br></div><div>This includes frigates, C-130 cargo planes, tanks, armoured vehicles, and numerous other pieces of military equipment.</div><div><br></div><div>Greece has been seeking for some time to buy more sophisticated F-35 jets from the US as part of its strategy of defence against Turkey, with which ties are often strained.</div><div><br></div><div>Athens vigorously opposed the sale of US F-16s to Ankara, due to a dispute over maritime borders in the eastern Mediterranean, which is rich in energy resources. - AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>