Greece’s navy feels the Mediterranean heatAt a time when maritime security concerns are increasing, Greece’s navy is seeking to modernise an ageing fleet with limited resources. Can Athens deliver on its naval-modernisation requirements? In early August, Greece launched the last of its Roussen-class corvettes, some 20 years after the programme began. The delays to the project, in part caused by Greece’s financial struggles, which postponed most naval-modernisation plans, are emblematic of the challenges the Greek navy has been facing. It is now seeking to modernise an ageing fleet with still limited resources, in an increasingly volatile maritime neighbourhood at a time when the maritime capabilities of Turkey, Greece’s arch-rival, have been going from strength to strength. So how will Athens be able to deliver on its increasingly urgent modernisation requirements?
Setting a new course?
In the past, Greece mostly worked with European countries to build its naval power. In the 1980s, it bought second-hand Kortenaer-class frigates from the Netherlands (which became the Elli class) and signed a contract for four German-designed MEKO 200 HN Hydra-class frigates, three of which were built locally. These frigates are now the backbone of the fleet. Moreover, these limited partnerships proved successful in providing the navy with efficient, well-armed vessels while also allowing Greece to maintain a modest yet capable shipbuilding industry, which produced most of the navy’s smaller assets. However, the ships are now showing their age.
European options may beckon again, with Greece looking potentially both to France, an important player in both the Mediterranean and shipbuilding, and to Germany, Europe’s economic powerhouse and the provider of the Greek navy’s submarine capability (albeit the newest of its German-designed boats were built locally). Up to now, Berlin may have been more reluctant than Paris to take an overt role in the Mediterranean, but simmering frictions there have already been exacerbated both by Turkey’s increasing ambitions in Libya and by growing tensions over offshore gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean, particularly off Cyprus.
These developments have placed Turkey at greater odds with the European Union. Furthermore, the new regional dynamics are generating new alignments, increasing maritime security concerns and thus adding to the premium on having capable maritime forces in the region. Turkey, for its part, currently has a naval programme that includes new German-designed submarines, new frigate classes (either recently delivered or under construction as part of its MILGEM project for indigenous surface combatants), and, perhaps most notably, a locally built variant of the Spanish Juan Carlos I large amphibious-ship design.
Greece had ambitions to acquire the French version of the Franco-Italian multi-mission or FREMM frigate – known in the French navy as the Aquitaine class – from France’s Naval Group. However, financial considerations have forced these ambitions to be scaled back. Athens is now looking at the export variant of the newer and well-armed, but more modest, Amiral Ronarc'h-class frigates – possibly only two. This illustrates the limits of Greece’s ability to respond to Turkey’s activities in the Mediterranean basin. Athens has also been considering possible acquisitions from the United States as part of its fleet modernisation.
Updating the Hydra class is another priority, aimed at extending the service lives of the ships by about 15 years with new combat-management systems, sensors and weapons. Greece’s requirement for new surface combatants could also be split into a mixture of larger and smaller platforms. On the European front, within the framework of the EU’s Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) process for enhanced defence cooperation, Greece has joined France, Italy and Spain on a project to design and develop a modular European Patrol Corvette, which could be configured in several variants to meet specific needs. But, while this would offer Greece procurement possibilities – ultimately benefiting both its navy and shipbuilding industry – it still needs to be able to pay for them, and also requires a more time-sensitive solution to escalating problems in the region.
A new partner on the horizon?
Perhaps to provide that more timely solution, Greece-based Onex Neorion Shipyards and Israel Shipyards announced in June that they are teaming up to offer a corvette design, the Themistocles class, based on the Israeli Sa’ar 72 design. This step towards greater defence cooperation between the two countries is but the latest development in the current reshaping of regional relationships.
The Themistocles design would weigh approximately 800 tonnes – a modest addition to Greece’s capabilities, particularly compared to Turkey’s naval developments. However, it would be of value in patrolling Greece’s near waters and, as an essentially off-the-shelf design, could be produced quite quickly. While not making a major difference in Greece’s maritime capabilities, the acquisition of such corvettes − adapted to the specific needs of its navy − would nonetheless underscore Greece and Israel’s growing relationship, which already includes an agreement for the former to lease two uninhabited aerial vehicles from the latter. Even so, overall, the Greek navy still faces a significant challenge in making up for what have essentially been lost years of modernisation.
https://www.iiss.org/blogs/military-balance/2020/08/greece-navy-mediterraneanElli - 39 anos - 9 Fragatas
Hydra - 28 anos - 4 Fragatas
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Agosto 11, 2005, 03:52:05 pm