Hellenic Air Force Fires S-300 Air Defense System for the first time

On Dec. 13, the Hellenic Air Force conducted the LIVEX “White Eagle” at the NATO Missile Firing Installation (NAMFI) in Crete, during which shots of the S-300PMU-1 air defence system were fired for the first time since it was bought 14 years earlier.

The S-300 is a Soviet (then Russian) long range SAM (Surface to Air Missile) developed to defend against aircraft and cruise missiles with variants developed to intercept ballistic missiles.

The S-300 PMU1 system was procured by Athens after the Cyprus Missile Crisis and deployed on Crete island where 2 Batteries consisting of 12 launchers (96 missiles) are operated.

The Minister of National Defence Dimitris Avramopoulos, the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Cyprus Fotis Fotiou and several foreign military attachés in Greece attended the exercise.

H/T to Strategy Reports for the link to the video.

Related articles

• Israeli, Italian, Hellenic and U.S. Air Force take part in largest joint-military exercise in Israel’s history
• How two F-14 Tomcats shot down two Gaddafi’s MiG-23s, 25 years ago today
• SR-71 Blackbird was so fast it outran every missile, Mig fighter jet encountered over enemy territory
• F-22 will provide targeting for submarine based Tomahawk cruise missiles
• Iraqi Air Force Combat Caravan planes Bomb Al-Qaeda Bases in Fallujah
• Russia deploys radar able to track military jets across whole of eastern Europe
• This photo of AH-64 Apache helicopter salvoing flares in the dark is one of the best of 2013

About David Cenciotti

WebsiteFacebookTwitterLinkedIn instagram

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.