The members of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense are informed by the Minister of National Defense Nikos Dendias about the changes in the Armed Forces. As he explained in his presentation, he will draw up a 20-year armament program, which will however be analyzed after Christmas, while as he noted, it is the first time that an armament program of such a duration is drawn up in the Parliament.
“Conscripts”, explained the minister, “must be trained essentially and for life” while regarding the camps he underlined that there are units with 30% occupancy in Evros and 130% in the Peloponnese and this is about to change.
He explained that “it doesn’t make sense to have more camps than the US and announced that we must move quickly to close 137 camps by 2025, as Vimatodotis wrote today. “We will eliminate over 30 formations, consolidate formations to increase firepower.
Speaking about the career of the military, he said that we need to change the career path, the career itinerary, and the way these people are supported by the system, otherwise we will not have executives in the next 10 years.” He noted that “we will present the best support system for families because we need military officers”, and added that “these are not issues of political management or party propaganda, they are national issues and wider compositions must be created in the consents with everyone’s information”.
“We need to go to offensive and defensive cyber warfare capabilities”
Regarding the armaments, Nikos Dendias postponed their analysis to the next meeting. But he spoke about drone and anti-drone systems, that is, about the anti-aircraft – anti-ballistic dome.
Making special reference to the navy and air force he stressed that we must “get to a ceiling of 200 aircraft, it will free up resources to maintain the strongest air force we have ever had”. Regarding the navy, he noted that “it will be able to project its power, not just defend the Aegean”.
He said, finally, that “we have to go to offensive and defensive cyber war capabilities”. And he added that the way of communication will also change, as he emphasized, “we have to go to protected satellite communications. To have a Greek satellite. The potential threat already has two satellites.”
The questions of the opposition
The representatives of the opposition put questions to the Minister of Defense. From SYRIZA, Evangelos Apostolakis, wondered, “how will reductions in units and increase in staffing be made?” We have a problem. Have local communities been taken into account? How can there be staff savings when we are understaffed? What do we do now? Didn’t we hear about domestic defense industry? How much do we bet?”
He stressed that “the lack of staff is a risk of undermining the restructuring. Our goal must be to strengthen human potential.” He added that investment in infrastructure, maintenance and personnel training is needed.
Referring to the Air Force, the former minister said that “the reinforcement with Rafale is an important step but it must be accompanied by continuous investment in infrastructure and specialized personnel. Unmanned vehicles necessary. The continuous upgrading and strengthening of our own capabilities is necessary to keep the strategic advantage”.
From PASOK, Michalis Katrinis, said that “every decision requires a serious analysis of the threats. What has changed about the threat so that we can deal with it with fewer units? Why are units closing? Are the reasons operational or financial?” He addressed a question to the defense minister, saying that “the need for new staff is known and pressing… How do you plan to catch up? where is the staff study and how will it be funded? And he concluded by saying that “there are other socio-economic parameters for closing camps.”
From the KKE, Nikos Papanastasis, said that “it is utopia that in an effervescent geopolitical environment we expect that we will be able to comfortably use the possibilities of defense and deterrence”.
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