Did a Greek Mirage 2000 'lock on' to a 'Turkish Frigate’ in the Mediterranean?

Photos uploaded by Greek Defence journalist @Ioannis_Nikitas show a Hellenic Air Force Mirage 2000 reportedly locking onto a Turkish frigate with an Exocet missile, but that is not the case.

The photos are real but the information they were uploaded with is not necessarily true. The photos were uploaded in article by @Ioannis_Nikitas in September 2018 and are reported to have been taken somewhere in the Aegean sea

This is the first photo and shows the HUD of a Mirage 2000 in a photo taken by the aircraft’s pilot with the ship visible in front.

This second photo shows the aircraft with a ‘lock’ on the ship, As seen on the left side of the HUD the weapon armed is an M39, which is an Exocet anti-ship missile. The missile however is not armed as it is in Practice/ training mode.

There was also discussion around the identity of the ship in the photo, with some claiming that it was a Greek ship instead. After some comparison and research it would appear that the ship being locked onto looks more like a Greek Elli class frigate of the Hellenic Navy than a Turkish frigate.

Another photo uploaded in the same article as the previous photos shows another clearer image of the vessel. From this photos it’s easier to compare it to images of both Turkish and Greek frigates. A very similar pattern is observed on the Greek Elli class frigate.

Despite the poor quality of the image when zoomed in, 3 masts can just be made out. These 3 masts align with those seen on the Elli class, this pattern does not appear to be visible on any Turkish frigate.

While I am unable to be 100% sure of the identity of the vessel in the image I think it is likely to be an Elli class Frigate of the Hellenic Navy and not a Turkish frigate as was claimed by the original uploader.

Another image from last years article does however show a Hellenic Air Force plane conducting a low pass over Turkish Barbaros class frigate.

Link to the original uploader and the article where the images were uploaded

https://t.co/dN7kkuKwhY

https://twitter.com/Ioannis_Nikitas