Israel Agrees to Set Up Flight Training School in Greece for $1.65B

Israel has signed an agreement valued $1.65 billion with Greece to establish an International Flight Training Center for the Hellenic Air Force.

Announcing the deal on Sunday, the Israel Ministry of Defense said it was the biggest defense agreement inked by the two countries till date.

Israeli company Elbit Systems beat Canada’s CAE to win this contract. Within the framework of the agreement, the company will provide kits to upgrade & operate the Hellenic Air Force's T-6 aircraft. It will also provide training, simulators & logistical support.

The training center will reportedly be modeled on Israel's own flight academy and will be equipped with 10 Leonardo M-346 training aircraft.

Elbit Systems said in a statement that it will provide new M-346 training aircraft and will maintain the entire training fleet, comprised of dozens of M-346 and T-6 training aircraft for a period of approximately 20 years. It will also supply its latest advanced Embedded Virtual Avionics (EVA) onboard the training aircraft, deliver networked flight simulators and an array of Ground-Based Training Stations (GBTS) as well as a command and control systems to enable efficient management of the flight training operation.