The Israeli Air Force conducted a secret training session over Greek airspace earlier in the year with the help of the Greek military, Reuters reports.
The Israelis reportedly trained against the Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile system, which is currently located on the Greek island of Crete, between April and May 2015. As Reuters notes, the particular system had been given from Cyprus to Greece 18 years ago for storage before officially being given to Greece in 2007. Russia had first sold the S-300 to Cyprus in 1997, causing Turkish grief and ultimately international pressure for Cyprus to store the system elsewhere.
The purpose of the joint exercise was for the Israeli airforce to prepare itself against potential confrontations with such systems that Russia intends to install in Syria and which Israel is expecting Russia to also provide Iran with. Israel and Iran have a strained and hostile relationship while Russia and Iran are allies.
“The activation allowed Israel’s warplanes to test how the S-300’s lock-on system works, gathering data on its powerful tracking radar and how it might be blinded or bluffed,” Reuters writes
The report cites sources whose names and nationalities are not revealed. Reuters notes that the militaries of the two countries neither confirmed nor denied the conduction of these joint exercises.
“Part of the maneuvers involved pitting Israeli jets against Greek anti-aircraft systems,” Reuters quotes one of the anonymous sources as saying.
One cited Greek Defense Ministry official claimed that the S-300 system is currently inactive and noted that permitting the conduction of tests on the system by other countries is not part of the Greece’s policy.
The United States had asked Greece to conduct the exercise, according to an anonymous source cited by Reuters.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
