Abstract
Although Greece has the seventh largest armed force in NATO, it has not
contributed combat forces to
support the alliance mission in Afghanistan.
Greece’s major international deployments have been in the
Balkans
and the country has not significantly engaged in large UN and NATO
peacekeeping missions in
the Middle East and Africa. The one major
exception has been in the deployment of naval forces. Greece
has sent
frigates to patrol off Lebanon, as part of the UNIFIL Maritime Task Force, and
to participate in
EU and NATO anti-piracy patrols off Somalia since late
2008. Greece has extended its participation in
the NATO Operation Ocean
Shield mission off Somalia from July 2009.
In June 2009, a Greek policeman
was shot dead in Athens while guarding of the home ofa witness during
the
trial of a member of the far-left Revolutionary People’s Struggle (ELA).
This followed four attacks
since January that have been blamed on left
wing and anarchist groups. Although some property was
damaged in these
attacks and one policeman was injured, no-one was killed. There were bomb
attacks on
the offices of the ruling political party, a television station
and a bank.
Two major procurement projects for the Greek armed forces are
underway, one for a new batch of 70-80
fighter aircraft and the other for
new maritime patrol aircraft. The fighter procurement is expected to be
decided this year, but the economic crisis may put this back. As reported by
Boeing in March 2009, the
company is offering its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet
to the Hellenic Air Force. This aircraft will come up
against the
Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin F-16, Dassault Rafale and Saab Gripen NG.
However,
if Greece chooses to go ahead with the Typhoon, it will represent
a considerable about-turn. In 2005, the
country’s centre-right
government cancelled a EUR4.9bn deal with EADS for t60 Eurofighter
Typhoons,
deciding instead to purchase 30 Lockheed Martin F16 C/D jets. In
May 2009, the first four Lockheed
Martin F-16C aircraft arrived at Araxos
Air Base.
A dispute between the Greek Ministry of Defence and the German
company ThyssenKrupp Marine
Systems (TKMS) over the fate of the 214-class
submarine Papanikolis has yet to be resolved, with the
German Navy now
offering to operate the submarine until an international buyer can be found
for the
vessel, which the Greeks refused to accept, citing
‘technical deficiencies’. The Greeks still owe US$839
million
to TKMS for the submarine, in spite of the German navy declaring the vessel to
be sea-worthy
after conducting its own sea trials. One solution under
discussion would be for Hellenic Shipyards to
build an additional
submarine to the current three-vessel order and allow HDW to keep the revenue
from
selling the Papanikolis. However, some industry commentators claim
that Greece’s huge budget deficit is
forcing the country to
concentrate on long-term fiscal stabilisation, with one method being to cap
defence
expenditure. The trouble is that over the past few years, Greece
has agreed a number of defence orders
with large payment obligations.
Therefore, it is suggested that Greece is deliberately finding problems in
the military hardware to avoid having to pay.
| 
View Cart
