42 · MT 2/2023 Nations in Focus: Greece Cooperation with the United States Lockheed Martin Business Development Director for Small Combatants and Ship Systems, Dawn Brenner, said in November 2022: “Lockheed Martin is continuing to pursue a contract to upgrade Greece’s four Hydra-class MEKO frigates. At the request of the Hellenic Navy, the offered bid was extended twice until December 2022.” No new information concerning the offered bid has been published. The estimated cost of the frigates is $2.5 billion. Lockheed Martin’s counterpart in Greece is Hellenic Shipyards, Greece’s largest shipyard. According to the US Defense Department, eight US-build MQ-9 Reaper UAVs are deployed in the Larissa Air Base for a period of one year starting in November 2022. The deployment was conducted as part of an agreement signed on November 1 between the US European Command (EUCOM) and the Greek Army under the US-Greece Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement (MDCA). The UAVs are to be used to patrol across the airspace of the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean. According to the DefensePost website, the Greek Parliament approved the acquisition of three General Dynamics MQ-9B SeaGuardian UAVs along with two ground stations in July 2022. As a follow up, the Greek armed forces are currently negotiating to buy UAVs with the ground systems. The deal is estimated to be at about €400 million including the construction of two ground control stations, spare parts and related equipment. Yet, no contract has been signed so far. Greece’s Participation in EU’s PESCO Programmes EDA Chief Executive, Jiri Sedivy, said in July 2021: “Greece leads the PESCO programme Cyber Threats and Incident Response Information Sharing Platform (CTIRISP). This is a project for shared use of information on threats and incidents in cyberspace, which concerns the way that member states share information on incidents and attacks in order to ensure better coordination” and mitigate the risks. According to the PESCO website, beside Greece as the programme coordinator, other participants include Cyprus, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Greek defence companies participated in one of the eight research projects in the context of the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR) known as Privilege (encryption of sensitive military data) that was completed in 2019. They also participated in five of the 16 projects under the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP), namely: transfer of technology and knowledge from Naval Group. The Hellenic staff will constitute the majority of the subsidiary’s workforce which could sustain up to 100 jobs. The subsidiary will generate and coordinate local industrial activities for the benefit of the Hellenic Navy. The CEO of Naval Group, Pierre Eric Pommellet, said in December 2022: “The company has promised that 30 percent of the value of the proposed corvette produced will be produced domestically in Greece.” This will provide a boost for the Hellenic shipbuilding industry. As for Fincantieri Group, it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Elefsis Shipyards in December 2022 for construction of corvettes in Greece on condition they win a contract. According to the Naval News website, the Greek Government Council of National Security (KYSEA) under the chairmanship of Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, decided on 20 December 2022 to postpone the decision on the new corvette programme for early 2023. No date was disclosed. It is known, however, that the cost for constructing three corvettes is about €1.5 billion and the first corvette should be delivered in 2025. Naval Group‘s rendering of the proposal for the replacement of the first four ELLI class frigates, based on the FDI/Belharra project. (Photo: Naval Group) Among indigenous product, there is a stealth drone made by a consortium of Greek companies and universities. Mock-ups of a Greek F-16 next to an F-35 with Greek coulours during DEFEA 2021. The US presence in the country is growing, with numerous proposals in all sectors. (Photos: Marco Giulio Barone) g e
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