Greece buys fighters from US

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Greece announced on Tuesday that it will purchase 30 F-16 fighter jets from the United States while retaining an option to buy 10 more later, renouncing a previous deal to buy 60 Eurofighter planes from EADS. The decision comes after the Greek Prime Ministers May meeting with President George W. Bush in the United States. Greeces center-right government had said late last year that they would not be bound by the previous socialist governments agreement with EADS. The purchase will cost Greece around 1.1 billion ($1.3 billion). A final decision on the purchase of thirty more planes will be made when Greeces military council next meets, according to that countrys defense minister. Due to its traditional rivalry with Turkey, Greece spends more money on defense than most European countries. Despite cuts in its defense budget in recent years in order to try to improve relations with Turkey, Greece spends around 5 percent of its gross domestic product on defense.