France and Greece are closer to finalising a deal for up to four French-designed frigates for the Greek navy, having signed a memorandum of understanding on 28 September 2021. The Greek navy’s much-delayed modernisation plans may finally be making headway, and not a moment too soon for Athens given the backdrop of the increasingly tense and crowded waters of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. But what does this development, and a bilateral defence pact also announced by French President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on 28 September, mean for Paris, Athens, and the region as a whole?
The ambitions of Athens to modernise the Hellenic Navy have been held up for years by the parlous state of the Greek economy. Defence spending stands at 3.65% of Greece’s national income, but it is still below pre-2011 levels. Meanwhile, not only has the region generally become more contested, but Greece’s regional rival, Turkey, has become more assertive and has been steadily investing in its defence capabilities, not least in its navy, which has been growing in regional significance. Athens, in comparison, has been struggling to make progress on its naval recapitalisation programme for years.
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Greece’s ageing flotilla of principal surface combatants includes nine Elli-class frigates, all dating from the late 1970s and early 1980s and mostly bought second-hand from the Netherlands, and four 1990s-vintage Hydra-class frigates, based on the German MEKO 200 design. For some time, Athens’s plan has been for a combination of new-build frigates and corvettes to replace the Elli class, the modernisation of the Hydra class, and the potential purchase of second-hand vessels to bridge the gap between when the oldest of the current fleet have been decommissioned and when the new vessels can be delivered.
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