Turkey’s state-run news agency claimed on Sunday that Greek surface-to-air missiles locked on to Turkish F-16 fighter jets carrying out a reconnaissance mission in international airspace.
Citing Turkish Defence Ministry sources, Anadolu reported that the radar of a Greek S-300 missile system based on the Greek island of Crete locked on to the Turkish jets on August 23.
The F-16s were at an altitude of 10,000 feet to the west of Greece’s Rhodes island when the Russian-made S-300’s target tracking radar locked on, the report added.
The Turkish planes completed their mission and returned to their bases “despite the hostile environment.”
Radar lock-ons are considered an act of hostility under NATO rules of engagement, according to AlJazeera.
Greek defence ministry sources have dismissed the allegations to local media.
“Greece’s S-300 missile system has never put a lock on Turkish F-16 jets,” the sources said, according to state-run ERT television.
“There is a lot of experience in broadcasting fake news from Turkey.”
The allegation is the latest claim from Turkey that its neighbour and fellow NATO member Greece has been targeting its aircraft above the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean Seas.
Just last week, Turkey summoned the Greek military attaché and filed a complaint with NATO after Greek F-16s allegedly harassed Turkish F-16s conducting a mission for the alliance.
READ MORE: Greece requests to buy fighter jets from the US.
Source: AP News.
