Defense Minister Nikos Dendias expressed his opposition to the potential sale of Meteor air-to-air missiles to Turkey during a meeting with British Defense Minister John Healey in London on Tuesday.

Dendias’ visit also aimed to strengthen defense cooperation with the United Kingdom, which Athens considers to have a significant role in European defense planning following Donald Trump’s recent election victory.

In January, Kathimerini reported that Turkey had submitted a request to purchase a significant number of Meteor missiles. The missiles are produced by the European missile consortium MBDA, which is jointly owned by France’s Airbus, Britain’s BAE Systems, and Italy’s Leonardo Finmeccanica.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had previously raised the issue with French President Emmanuel Macron in early February.

According to reports, Ankara may be interested in reverse-engineering Meteor missile technology to advance its domestically developed air-to-air missile.

As Kathimerini has reported, Turkey’s defense industry has been developing the Gokhan missile, which has characteristics similar to the Meteor and is currently in the testing phase. Sources indicate that the Turkish Air Force plans to equip its domestically upgraded F-16s with the Gokhan missile.

Source: Ekathimerini.com