He did not go to Athens before Ankara! The Greeks got angry when the Israeli Defense Minister did not come
An Israeli company has started flight training for Greek pilots in Kalamata. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz was to visit this center the previous day. However, Gantz, who will be in Ankara on Wednesday, canceled the visit at the last moment, causing questions in Athens.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who will meet with Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar in Ankara on Wednesday, canceled his visit to Greece scheduled for the previous day at the last minute, creating question marks in Athens. Gantz, who was scheduled to inspect the construction works of the “International Flight Training Center” in the city of Kalamata in the Peloponnese, in the south of the country, together with the Greek Minister of Defense Nikos Panayiotopulos, canceled this visit at the last moment. Israeli sources said Gantz canceled his visit “for reasons that required him to stay in Israel”.
THEY SAID ‘WORTHY DEVELOPMENT’
Upon this development, Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panayiotopulos and Chief of General Staff Konstantinos Floros also did not go to Kalamata. For this reason, only some Greek and Israeli military officials attended the ceremony, which was programmed at the “International Flight Training Center”. Gantz’s video message was shown at the ceremony. While Israeli Minister Benny Gantz canceled his visit to Greece, it was announced in the Greek media that he would go to Turkey on Wednesday, with comments “not a good omen” and “strange development”.
THEY WILL TRAIN GREEK PILOTS
The agreement signed between Greece and Israel in April last year envisages the conversion of the Greek “Flight Training Center” in Kalamata into an “International Flight Training Center” by the Israeli ELBİT company. As per the agreement, both Greek and Israeli instructors now undertake the basic training of Greek Air Force Academy students and new graduates on warplanes. Israeli instructors will train young Greek pilots 5-10 thousand hours a year.
The logistics support facility at the ‘International Flight Training Center’ has been completed. The construction of the building, where theoretical training will be given to the pilots, will be completed in 2023. The construction work on the partially operational training center is planned to continue until 2024.
The Israeli company will renew its fleet of old aircraft used for the training of pilots with 25 T-6 and 10 M-346 aircraft. Some of the planes in question were brought to Kalamata. Greece , on the other hand, will pay ELBİT 62 million Euros per year. The duration of the agreement is 21 years. Therefore, the total amount that Greece will pay during this period is 1.3 billion Euros.
