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The Hellenic National Defense General Staff has documented 106 incidents of Athens Flight Information Region (FIR) violations by Turkish unmanned aerial vehicles and maritime patrol aircraft since August.
While Turkish fighter jets are not involved in these airspace breaches, the Hellenic Air Force deploys a pair of fighter jets daily, typically from Crete, to intercept and identify any aircraft entering Greek airspace without a submitted flight plan.
According to sources cited by Kathimerini, although Turkey formally requests permission for each UAV flight from the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority, it consistently refuses to submit a flight plan or to observe Greece’s 10-nautical-mile national airspace. As a result, these Turkish UAV flights are classified as Athens FIR violations.
The Turkish UAV activity is focused in the southeastern Aegean, where the drones conduct ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) missions. Military sources consulted by Kathimerini suggest that, beyond surveillance, Turkey may be testing new systems on UAVs.
Ankara employs similar tactics with maritime patrol aircraft, reporting their operations to NATO’s AIRCOM headquarters instead of Greek authorities.