TSAMTO, October 13. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced in the Greek Parliament on October 7 that the corvette supply program for the Greek navy will follow the already agreed frigate construction program.
According to Jane's Defense Weekly, after the approval by parliament of the Greek-French agreement on strategic defense cooperation signed by the Presidents of Greece and France on September 28, K. Mitsotakis for the first time officially announced his intention to soon disclose the details of the program for the supply of new corvettes.
Later, at the same meeting, Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos announced some additional details about the medium-term procurement plan for the Armed Forces of Greece. In particular, he said that in accordance with the planned new structure of the country's Armed Forces for 2020-2025, 48 new–generation fighters are needed for the Air Force, and 12-13 large-displacement surface warships, namely frigates and corvettes, are needed for the Navy.
According to the minister, the budget of the Greek Navy for the billing period is 5 billion. euro ($5.8 billion), of which 2.9 billion euros were allocated for the frigate purchase program. This also allows us to allocate a significant amount for the supply of new corvettes. N. Panagiotopoulos expressed confidence that "some of these ships, if not all, will be built in Greek shipyards."
The purchase of three Belhrra-class frigates (Fregate de Defense et d'Intervention, plus an option for the supply of the fourth) and three Govind-class corvettes (also plus an option for the supply of the fourth) will allow replacing ships in the Greek Navy with a service life of 30 to 42 years. It is gradually planned to replace nine S-class frigates of the Greek Navy, and four MEKO-200HN class ships will remain in service until the early 2030s, when they are scheduled to be decommissioned. At about the same time, it is planned to prepare a further procurement plan.
