The F-5s are to be upgraded, if they are going to be purchased. But again, that is just one of the offers available now…and the selection of which won’t happen for another 5 years…so probably something totally different will be chosen then.
This will mean that the F-5 that were not upgraded in F-5/2000 standard, will be +5 years in storage and their condition probably worst than what they are now… Again for a symbolic 100$ price you can bet that the upgrade will be undertaken by Turkish companies, would recquire hard cash and it will be significantly more than 100$…
Secondly, our pilots are being trained in Turkey and Italy on new types…as well as with the help of the US in Albania itself (flight simulators have been installed at the AF academy). The helicopter pilots get plenty of flight time…they are very active in carrying out all sorts of missions…and most of them are former fighter pilots or helicopter pilots with many years of experience. The fighter force doesn’t get as much however since the fighter wing is on its last leg now…and won’t return to service until 5 years from now.
Sending few pilots to other countries and logging simulator hours does not qualify for flight training. Former pilots that were not current to their types and flew for years the hours that other contries’ pilots log in a month, are not the ideal material for a demanding flight schedule. In order to train pilots you need to start with cadets that are going to follow a rigorous and hard training, with lots of hours… Again this -except from the help of experienced instructor pilots- needs money, and you don’t send them directly to fighters just for prestige reasons…
As for being a “yes man” and losing “credibility” or “bargaining power”, thats the typical Greek view of things so I expected that. For us its not about being a “yes man” at all…but it is working and cooperating with valuable allies who have been good allies to us and who have done so much for us already (Kosova, aid to the army and so forth).
My friend, wanna ask the Turks their opinion about this type of ‘alliance‘…? What is ‘typical‘ is the rather naive view that the willing submission to the tune of a superpower is a ‘valuable‘ alliance for a country like Albania. There is no such thing as a free meal in the real world. The only thing that matters is realpolitik. Other countries had similar views 60 years ago and later found out the hard reality… Time for you to go through this maturing process now, so be sure to wear a helmet, you are entering a hazard zone…
BTW the ‘typical’ Greek view is the one of Democracy (Demos + Kratos) where the people has a saying to what the state will do and not vice versa… In a Democracy the people have the right do disagree with allies and superpowers and care little for freeloaders. Now try to be more friendly and don’t use stereotypes, its not very helpful…
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