Greece seems to be moving towards a "smart" response to Turkey's mammoth shipbuilding programme after what Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias pointed out in an interview with Kathimerini.
I hope so, because at first sight it seems that Greece, due to the economic difficulties and with the alibi of the Greek-Turkish approach stemming from the Athens Declaration, is moving towards a fleet of reduced floats, at least in the foreseeable future, as even on the burning issue of the modernization of the frigates MEKO, Nikos Dendias revealed that all four will NOT be modernized. In the best case scenario we will be talking about the three "Kimon" class frigates plus 3 modernized MEKOs.
Nikos Dendias' reference to the Navy's programme is characteristic: "The fleet must be modernised. First of all, it is obvious that a number of MEKOs need to be modernised. What needs to be addressed first, above and beyond everything else, is the availability of naval vessels. In fact, the full availability of ships, not just to go to sea, but to go out with all their systems in working order. If this is not achieved, having a huge fleet whose capabilities are less than the number of ships is not a solution. So we need to help our fleet to get back to the levels it was at before the financial crisis. This means making intelligent use of the resources we have. We do not necessarily need too many ships, but we certainly need well-equipped ships. We have a huge tradition at sea, I think the Greek fleet has never been defeated in its history, so we have a solid foundation on which we can build, thanks to our excellent human resources. If we allocate the money better and make better use of the means at our disposal and their potential, we can achieve amazing results in the foreseeable future."Εν τω μεταξύ στην Τουρκία όπως αναφέρουν ΜΜΕ που ασχολούνται με την άμυνα, πλησιάζει η ώρα για μεγάλη τελετή απογραφής του τουρκικού Πολεμικού Ναυτικού στην οποία νέες μονάδες θα ενταχθούν στον τουρκικό στόλο
The Turkish navy will reinforce its strength with new surface units. These are TCG İSTANBUL, TCG DERYA, TCG First Lieutenant Arif Ekmekçi and MARLIN SİDA.
"The Turkish Naval Forces Command is getting stronger with naval platforms built with local and national resources. In the ceremony to be held this week with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 4 new naval platforms will be included in the list. The date of the ceremony is currently scheduled for January 19, 2023," Turkish media reported.
The naval platforms to be included in the inventory are as follows:
TCG İSTANBUL (F-515), the 5th frigate of the MİLGEM Project
The General Support Ship TCG DERYA (A-1590) which is the largest naval platform of the Turkish Navy after the amphibious assault ship TCG ANADOLU (L400).
The Staff Support Ship, TCG First Lieutenant Arif Ekmekçi (A-575) and the high-speed Unmanned Surface Ship MARLIN (SİDA), which is the world's first in the world with electronic warfare capability.
On the other hand, this year, the TCG PİRİREİS, the first submarine of the Reis class, will join the Turkish fleet. Also, TCG AKHİSAR and TCG KOÇHİSAR, the first HİSAR-class offshore patrol ships, are expected to enter the Naval Forces Command's list this year.
While work continues on the 3 frigates of the ISTIF class, contracts for the 4 additional frigates of the same class are expected to be signed in the near future.
The conclusions are yours!
