Only hours before PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis boarded the US aircraft carrier “Eisenhower” that is docked at the Souda port, the Hellenic Ministry of National Defence sent an official Letter of Request (LOR) to the US government exploring the possibility of procuring frigates for the Navy. A formal Letter of Request -a non-binding letter- on the part of Greece, was set as a condition by Washington for Greece to submit a formal bid for the cost of building four new frigates, along with the bid for two ships as an interim solution until the construction of new frigates and the undertaking of the modernisation program of the four German frigates of the MEKO type (“Hydra”, “Spetsai”, “Fisherman”,” Salamis “) of the Navy.

The LOR, although not formally binding, is the first step in concluding a Greek-American intergovernmental agreement to purchase four MMSC (Multi-Mission Surface Combatant) frigates. The new program of the Hellenic Navy is interconnected with the Greek shipyards in Skaramagkas and Elefsina that have put forward bids for the construction of the new frigates.

The LOR, finalised by the Navy, estimates for € 4 billion to be spent on the four new frigates, along with a disbursement of around € 450 million to modernise the “average life-cycle” of the four MEKO frigates (” Hydra “,” Spetsai “,” Salamis “,” Psara “) and the payment of another 500 million for the acquisition of an intermediate solution warship that will cover the needs of the Navy by 2028 when the construction of the four new frigates is expected to be completed. The total program cost amounts to 4.95 billion euros. The solution-package being developed by the Navy also envisages the participation of Greece in the FFGX program, which concerns the next type of warship that the United States plans to acquire in the next decade.