F-16 Fighting Falcon News

May 14, 2003 (by Lieven Dewitte) - A new Turkish provocation was recorded yesterday at 11 AM over the Aegean Sea during a small scale aeronautic military exercise, code-named 'Triena' (Trident). This drill was taking place in the sea region between the islands of Limnos and Lesvos.
Two armed Turkish F-16s approached three Greek Phantoms following them from a distance of 1.000 feet. The Turkish jets forced the Greek military aircraft to lower their altitude from 8.500 feet to 3.500 feet, thus obstructing the attack of a target in the sea. The specific target had been towed by the 'Doxa' gunboat, while the shots fired by the Greek F-4s were carried out with training ammo.

Yesterday, approximately 34 Turkish fighters in 14 formations carried out 15 violations of the Athens FIR and 44 violations of Greek national air space. In nine cases there were intense dogfights, since the Turkish pilots refused to leave the Athens FIR, even though they had been
'intercepted'.

Such an incident of clear and direct obstruction of Greek military exercises has never before been
recorded.