Saudi Arabia’s Chief of the General Staff Lt. General Fayyad bin Hamid Al-Ruwaili met with Greek Chief of Staff Lt. General Konstantinos Floros on Friday.
During the meeting, they discussed the joint cooperation and bilateral relations between the two friendly countries, especially in the defense and military aspects and affairs, as well as exchanging views on a number of issues and topics of common interest, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
Al-Ruwaili also attended a show of the participating combat aircraft in the maneuvers of “Falcon Eye 1” drill at Souda Airbase in Greece and met with the participants, as the Saudi Royal Air Force F-15C, Greek Air Force F-16, Mirage 2000 and the F-4 Phantom fighter jets continued to carry out their air sorties over the Mediterranean, to implement several training scenarios including offensive and defensive counter operations, air support operations, air maneuvers and the destruction of ground targets.
For his part, the Chief of the General Staff stressed that the participation of the Saudi Royal Air Force in the drill in Greece during the current month stems from the keenness of the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Supreme Commander of all Military Forces, and the unlimited support to develop the armed forces, with the directive of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, and the follow-up of Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Minister of Defense.
He said that the drill aims to exchange the military expertise between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Greece in order to support bonds of cooperation between the forces of the two countries which will contribute to raising the level of the combat readiness for both forces. He expressed his pride in participation of the armed forces around the world with all friendly and fraternal countries, stressing the importance of these drill in maintaining security and stability.
For his part, Commander of the Royal Saudi Air Force Group participating in the drill Col. Pilot Abdulrahman bin Saeed Al-Shihri said that the combat readiness and mastery which have been shown by the participants of the Saudi Royal Air Force, whether pilots or ground crews, are a pride that deserves everyone's praise. He stressed that this would not have been possible without the support from the wise leadership, whether at the level of training and qualification or at the level of equipping and arming.
The meeting and the drill maneuvers were attended by the Saudi Ambassador to the Greece, the delegation accompanying the Chief of the General Staff and senior officers of the Greek Armed Forces.
