Nikos Dendias: Investment in Greek defense technology, instead of just for “arms from the shelf”

The need to modernise and adapt them to the new data, the Minister of National Defence pointed out, in an interview he gave to the newspaper “Nauterine”. Nikos Dendias also spoke about the biggest reform that has taken place in the Armed Forces, the “Agenta 2030” , the rapid technological developments, cyberattacks and Artificial Intelligence . “The main elements of the reform are the development of research and innovation, with the creation of the relevant ecosystem in the Armed Forces, the modernisation of the institutional framework of the Supreme Military Educational Institutions, the establishment of a Joint Computer Corps,” Mr. “Greece,” he said, “should be prepared for all possibilities. To have a strong presence on the international stage, to actively guard against what has been achieved in its foreign policy in the last four years and relying on its Armed Forces to be an important factor in security and stability.” For the Greek frigate “Hydra” he said he is on a mission serving “the national interests, as a unit of the country’s Navy with the largest merchant fleet on the planet, the safety of our sailors and the freedom of Greece’s supply routes, affecting the country’s cost of life and value as a transit hub.” Mr. Dendias made it clear that “today is more urgent than ever that the need to take flesh and blood to create a defensive arm in the EU”. “We ought,” he added, “not to allow countries that have revised and expansionist ambitions to implement their plans and take all necessary deterrence measures.” In order to shape the new European Defence Industrial Strategy, he stressed that ‘what is foreseen for the common market, in a significant proportion, of defence equipment, as well as safeguards for half of European origin, is a great opportunity not only for the formation of a common understanding about security but also for our defence industry’. “Greece attaches particular importance to this strategy for the EU’s defence self-sufficiency and is committed to actively participate in any initiative aimed at defending the European area,” he added. He stressed that having our country’s strong Defense “is a term of national survival” and continued: “This does not mean, on the other hand, that our expenditure will be incalculable, because they should take into account the budgetary margins. For the same reason I asked the General Staff for priorisation and re-evaluation of future equipment programmes, by establishing a new 12-year programme.” “The goal,” he said, “is every euro spent in Defence to be a real need that will be best met in cost-result ratio”. With the implementation of the “Agenta 2030”, “we aspire” he said, to leave the logic “I’m shopping off the shelf” and “to go into the development of defence technology programs that have domestic added value”. “In this way investments in Defence will not only not be able to be described as ‘reproductive’ from an economic point of view, but will contribute to the development of our country and the increase in employment,” Mr. For the country’s defence industry, he said there are “worthy companies in the industry, but we do not want them to be isolated cases.” She described the “imaging case”, the EAB, “to which we want to give her the role that Constantine Karamanlis envisioned for her”. “The assumption of its oversight by the Ministry of National Defence was a necessary treaty in order to achieve the company’s rescue. After all, without an EAB that works smoothly, it cannot carry out without problems our Air Force’s mission” he made clear. Overall for the Defence Industry, he said that “our intention is to create an ecosystem different from what exists until now.” He added that Greece “has a specialized and experienced industry” in the shipbuilding sector, with the Skaramaga Shipyards and Elefsina Shipyards, while continuing: “US acceptance of the proposal to participate in building new Constellation-style frigates is a major national success”. “This acceptance has a huge operational advantage, as our country, combined with the acquisition of the 3 new FDI, has the ability to enter the next decade with newly acquired, in most of its fleet, ships,” he added. “For reasons of national interest”, he added, “we will call in the negotiation process for the greatest possible involvement of the Greek defence industry in the construction of the frigates in order to enhance the skills and expertise of the sector, promote the development of new technologies and create skilled jobs.” For changes in service , he said that emphasis would be placed “on combining the development of digital and other skills during military service – which may also be useful after that – with intensive military training, adapted to the relatively short time of service.”