Dendias announces strategic shift for the Navy – New units, advanced weapons and communication systems

The Hellenic Navy is a structural pillar of Greece’s defence and the reinforcement of its strength via the “Agenda 2030” is not a simple upgrade of its capabilities, National Defence Minister Nikos Dendias noted while attending the inspection of the Fleet by President of the Hellenic Republic Constantine Tassoulas as a representative of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

“It reflects a change of doctrine, a new deterrent national strategy. New units, advanced weapons and communication systems, but now also artificial intelligence and the integration of innovation, all of these are part of the holistic approach that we have called ‘Achilles’ Shield’,” Dendias emphasised as he welcomed President Tassoulas at Miaouli Beach in the port of Piraeus on Monday, June 30, and then accompanied him to the frigate “Spetsai” in the Saronic Gulf.

The “Achilles Shield” liberates,” he said, “the modern weapons systems of the Navy, from the narrow limits of a territorial defence.” It transforms them with their new capabilities into strategic weapons of deterrence, he added, while referring to the new Belharra frigates and the strategic weapons and anti-aircraft defence they possess.

Furthermore, he explained that Greece is negotiating the new Italian frigates “to replace the older non-modernised S-type frigates,” while he pointed out that “the modernisation of the MEKO frigates by our Navy,” is progressing, as well as the modernisation of “the Roussin vessels, the modernisation of the Type 214 submarines which have also acquired new torpedoes, new fast patrol boats, new support ships, new Seahawk helicopters, new vertical take-off drones, the Centaurus anti-drones, new functional interface systems, command and control.

He added that “we are starting a process that will bring us unmanned sea vessels on and under the sea.”

“But,” he emphasised, “we are also looking to the future. Participation in the design of the new Constellation frigate, participation in the design of the Eurocorvette, the design of a Greek ship for the first time, which the Navy will share with the Coast Guard.”

“And all this with an institutionalised participation of the Greek Defence Industry at a rate of 25%,” he clarified.

“We are also starting,” he said, “the discussion on acquiring new submarines.”

“All of the above leads to a Navy 10 times more powerful than anything Greece has known to date,” Dendias stressed.

Source: pagenews.gr