Greek and Israeli shipyards have joined forces and signed a deal to build a navy ship for border surveillance in the East Mediterranean Sea: the Themistocles Corvette. The deal has been signed between the ONEX Shipyards based on the islands of Syros in the central Aegean and the Israel Shipyards based in Haifa.
The agreement is being considered as a “milestone that will be followed by another project,” the Israeli Embassy in Greece posted in social media. “The project will bring the two countries closer,” the embassy added.
ONEX Shipyard announced the cooperation development in a press release on Tuesday.
Both shipyards will be cooperating closely in the international development and promotion of the new corvette with production which would take place both in Greece and Israel.
According to the statement and the dedicated website, the Themistocles Corvette combines the know-how of the Greek, Israeli and US shipbuilding industries and brings next-generation operational capabilities to future naval warfare.
“The new design of the Themistocles Corvette brings next generation operational capabilities to future naval warfare. It is a multipurpose vessel at the length of 72 meter and full displacement of about 800 tons.
This new corvette will also reach the speed of above 30kn with an extended endurance. It can operate a medium size marine helicopter, but also supports unique possibilities of deploying Special Forces units. Themistocles includes state-of-the-art weapons and electronic systems, than can be tailor-made to customer specific requirements.”
For ONEX Neorion and Israel Shipyards Ltd the name “Themistocles” symbolizes the common principles, culture and the values of peoples based on the ideals of freedom, democracy and unity.
Themistocles was an Athenian politician, general and naval strategist whose emphasis on naval power and military skills were instrumental during the Persian wars. Themistocles was the creator of Athenian sea power and the chief savior of Greece from subjection to the Persian Empire at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BCE.
- Open Sea Patrolling and Surveillance operations
- Maritime Sovereignty protection
- Off-Shore facilities protection
- EEZ protection
- Anti terror/ smuggling /illegal activities interdiction
- Minimize illegal immigration transits
- Search and Rescue operations in coordination with SAR Helicopters
- Participation in Naval combat operations
- Fishing protection and control
- Support of boarding/landing and intervention forces
- Sea Pollution containment activities
Themistocles can accommodate advanced weapon configurations, including:
- Launchers for anti-missiles defense missiles
- Surface-to-surface missiles launchers
- Up to 76 mm Naval gun
- Remotely controlled stabilized Naval gun system up to 30mm
- Command and Control system
- ESM & ECM
- Advanced Multifunction Search Radar
- Heavy machine guns – 0.5” / 7.62mm
- Most advanced day and night vision system
In February 2020 ONEX Neorion Shipyards and Israel Shipyards proceeded with a contract for the co-production and co-development of vessels. The agreement between ONEX Neorion Shipyards and Israel Shipyards was a positive and symbolic development which is part of the overall framework for strengthening Greece’s cooperation and strategic relationship with Israel, the website dedicated to Themistocles Corvette stresses.
