We should move quickly to close 137 military camps. By 2025 this should be over…We must also enter the age of drones. Every unit of the Greek Army will have an anti-drone capability and 3 of the 4 types of Battalions we are creating will also have the ability to fly drones”, Defence Minister Nikos Dendias said on Thursday presenting to the Standing Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs of the Parliament the New Structure of the Armed Forces.
He explained that the reason only 137 camps are closing is because “we don’t have the money to invest to grow the others and close another 250”. As he said, “a phased program has been drawn up and the first phase is this” which means “also increasing the density of the units.”
“As for the Navy,” he clarified, “there will be a huge strengthening. The Navy will acquire strategic strike capabilities that it has never had in the history of Hellenism” and will also acquire “the Air Defence Area capability. It will be able to project its power. Not just to defend the Aegean,” he concluded.
The Defence Minister clarified that “the Force Structure also concerns the country’s choices in the broader issues related to armaments and the reforms we want to advance under the framework of the “Agenda 2030”. “The reality we face as a country is transitioning the Armed Forces into the 21st century so they can continue to respond successfully to the expanding challenges that exist in the security environment,” he added.
“The first reform that took place was the Hellenic Defense Innovation Center,” he said and emphasized that “it brings the needs of the Armed Forces into contact with the defense innovation environment that exists in Greece. The small ecosystem of advanced technology defense companies.”
In the context of promoting innovation, said Dendias, “in mid-December we are organising the first big joint presentation with the French innovation system”.
“The French Minister of Defence, Sébastien Lecornu, will come here and together we will present the cooperation of the two innovation systems” he continued.
On the key programs, he said these include the modernization of warships, the modernisation of submarines and the modernisation of missiles, the new frigate Constellation being designed with the United States, the new corvette being designed with the European Union, the new submarines.
“All these programs will bring about 6 or 7 billion euros to the Greek shipbuilding industry in the next ten years,” clarified Dendias.
“The approach that exists in the ministry is to create an ecosystem of defense industries that can support the Armed Forces of the country,” he explained.
