According to information published by Greek Reporter on July 21, 2021, the Greek Minister of Defense Nikos Panagiotopoulos was in France to attend the handover ceremony of the first Rafale fighter jet.

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First Dassault Rafale fighter jet for Greece (Picture source: Greek government)

The Rafale is a twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by the French company Dassault Aviation. It was primarily developed for the French Air Force and Navy. The first fighter aircraft entered service with the French Navy in 2004 and the French Air Force in 2006.

It can be armed with different types of weapons including Mica, Magic, Sidewinder, ASRAAM and AMRAAM air-to-air missiles as well as Apache, AS30L, ALARM, HARM, Maverick, and PGM100 air-to-ground missiles and Exocet / AM39, Penguin 3 and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. It is also armed with a twin-gun pod and a Nexter 30mm DEFA 791B cannon and laser designation pods for laser guidance of air-to-ground missiles.

The Rafale is powered by two Snecma M88-2 turbofans, 50.04 kN (11,250 lbf) thrust each dry, 75 kN (17,000 lbf) with afterburner. It has a gross weight of 15,000 kg and a maximum takeoff weight of 24,500 kg. It can fly at a maximum speed of 2,223 km/h with a maximum combat range of 1,850 km.