Nations in Focus: Greece MT 2/2023 · 43 road to recovery. Active participation of a selected group of the country’s defence enterprises with Naval Group strengthened their credentials as a small but vibrant firm with a highly skilled workforce. Active participation of the industry in the EU’s PESCO programmes strengthens the industry, in general, and provides further impetus for the industry investments in R&D. Finally, the aforementioned huge procurement programmes will galvanize the very best of the Greek companies, provide the companies with a long-term perspective, enhance skills of the local workforce and ultimately turn the industry into a competitive force. As for the potential arms exports from Greece it remains to be seen whether the Greek defence industry can manufacture highly valuable and competitive weapon systems. • LOTUS (design, prototype and testing of a low visibility UAV for air or space capabilities for ISR and for integration into air-traffic management. In other words, a dual use technology device). • DECISMAR (an upgraded maritime surveillance decision support toolbox). • ESC2 (an improved European Strategic Command and Control system). • PANDORA (an improved cyber defence platform for real-time threat hunting, incident response and information sharing) • SMOTANET (next generation internal communication). These projects were completed in 2022. Greece has also been participating in the EU Military Mobility Initiative since its inception in 2018. This initiative targets two main areas. The first one is the elimination of bureaucratic procedures, namely improving the exchange of information and cutting unnecessary red tape at borders since it considerably slows down troop movements. In the case of an emergency NATO can move troops faster than during peacetime. The EU decided that moving troops during peacetime and in the case of an emergency should be equalised. The second area includes infrastructure, namely, roads, railways, bridges, in general, and ports, tunnels and airstrips, in particular. The first ones cannot bear the weight of heavy equipment brought from Germany, Netherlands, the UK, and the US, in general, while the second are either too small or cannot accommodate larger aircraft coming from the US, in particular. Conclusion Privatization of the bloated and bankrupt state-owned companies and their sales to foreign investors was a first milestone on the industry’s Small local shipyards offer RHIBs and fast boats optimized for special operations in island environments. (Photo: Marco Giulio Barone)
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