PROVOCATION - Greek-Turkish Dogfight Over Aegean

A challenging dogfight accompanied by a dozen or so of violations over the Aegean were performed today by the Turkish Air Force. Specifically six Turkish F-16, two of which were fully loaded, illegally entered Greek air space and challenged the Hellenic Air Force by attempting to cause a virtual showdown (but at the same time also check their readiness).

The dogfight occurred North-West of Lesvos. According to the military news site defencenet, two Greek Mirage 2000-5 that had taken off from the island of Skyros came face to face with two fully armed Turkish F-16s that had taken off from Bali Kesir.

The dogfight began at 20,000 feet and then reached 10,000 feet, lasting only five minutes but our skillful pilots did us proud and the pushed back the Turkish planes towards the Turkish coast, or to the limits of Greece's FIR.

Senior officers of the Hellenic Air Force who monitored the dogfight said that the men who were flying the Mirage 2000-5s from the 331st Squadron had "an easy day today."

Reference in Greek - defencenet