Greece said Thursday it would shake up its defence forces to save money and sideline older weapons in favour of drones after lessons drawn from Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Among the main changes in the radical overhaul is the creation of an anti-air and anti-drone defence dome covering the whole of Greece, according to government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis.<\/p>\n
Defence Minister Nikos Dendias told a parliamentary defence committee that the military would introduce four different drone systems, merge army units and boost its cyber-warfare potential.<\/p>\n
Greece has to deal with a “different reality” and “quickly” upgrade its forces for 21st-century requirements, he said.<\/p>\n
“Every army unit will have anti-drone capabilities,” he said.<\/p>\n
Spokesman Marinakis said the reform was the “greatest ever in the history of the Greek state in the field of national defence”.<\/p>\n
Greece’s air force aims to have about 200 aircraft, mainly French-made Rafales and US-made F-16 Vipers and F-35s.<\/p>\n
It will be “the strongest air force Greece has ever had”, Dendias said.<\/p>\n
Greek frigates will be equipped with a Greek-made anti-drone system that has already seen action against Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, he added.<\/p>\n
Older Greek warships and submarines are being modernised, and the navy is working with the United States on new Constellation-class frigates and the European Union on a new patrol corvette.<\/p>\n
Greek naval shipyards stand to gain up to seven billion euros ($7.4 billion) in military orders over the next decade, he said.<\/p>\n
– Air-defence dome –<\/p>\n
For the touted air defence dome, Greece is considering reinforcing its current capabilities with new weapons, drones and radar systems to replace some obsolete equipment, according to a source close to the matter.<\/p>\n
Nothing has yet been decided, but potential markets for the purchase of this equipment include Israel, France, Italy and Norway, the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
The Greek financial website newmoney reported at the end of October that Greece was looking to buy air and missile defence systems on the Israeli market at a cost of two billion euros.<\/p>\n
To rationalise the stationing of army units, the ministry will shut down over 130 camps by next year.<\/p>\n
The minister said Greece had over 800 army camps, more than the United States, even though there were units in the border region with Turkey at just 30 percent capacity.<\/p>\n
The ministry will also cut down on the number of military tribunals, which on average handle just five cases a year, while a civil court judge sees 25 cases a day, Dendias said.<\/p>\n
The goal is to save two billion euros over 10 years, he said, with full details of the plan to be revealed after the Christmas break.<\/p>\n
Greece spends around three percent of its annual output on defence, higher than most EU states, mainly because of long-running tension with historic rival Turkey.<\/p>\n
Greece faces a potential threat from a foe “nine to 10 times” its size that has two satellites while Greece has none of its own, Dendias said of Turkey.<\/p>\n
Greek armed forces had a 20-billion-euro shortfall during the country’s decade-long debt crisis, Dendias said.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in 2021 announced a major military buildup in naval and air force equipment, and signed defensive agreements with Paris and Washington.<\/p>\n
“We need to spend more, but we also need to be smarter about how we allocate our defence spending,” Mitsotakis said in July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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