Greece’s National Defense Minister Nikos Dendias called for the establishment of a domestic defense industry, since the country spends so much on armament.
He stressed that it was intolerable that domestic defense industry production should be “zero or near zero” in a country that spends so much on weapons systems to serve the needs of its Armed Forces.
He noted that this was the reason why recent changes in the armed forces leadership had gone beyond the chiefs of staff for a more comprehensive approach.
Dendias also stressed the need to develop domestic arms production capability, rather than buy “everything off the shelf abroad and produce nothing.”
He noted that recent conflicts in Ukraine, Caucasus and the Gaza Strip have shown that the doctrines that the Greek armed forces currently follows need to be studied and to a great degree revised, as a radically different approach is needed.
“Ukraine showed clearly that decision-making responsibility has to be at a lower level, with lower and middle-ranking officers having the capability to act on their own and make decisions,” he said.
Officers expressing concerns regarding the best decision must also be rewarded, he added, while noting that the Hellenic Air Force needs a properly functioning Hellenic Aerospace Industry.
Dendias pledged to soon table legislation that concerns innovation in the Armed Forces, linking the country’s production capacity with the needs of the General Staffs and said the government’s aim was to create an ecosystem “entirely different from what has existed until now.”
As long as those in government prefer to buy from foreign companies because those foreign companies pay them bigger kick-backs, any nascent defense industry will certainly suffer from infant mortality. It isn’t only defense. How it works:
Major foreign company A agrees to establish a subsidiary in Greece. In return the government promises that the next major procurement contract for item B, which company A manufactures, will go to company A and be manufactured in the Greek subsidiary.
Company A establishes the subsidiary in Greece and it starts manufacturing employing lots of Greek workers, as agreed.
The next major procurement contract for item B is awarded to foreign company C.
Company A closes its Greek subsidiary with the loss of lots of Greek jobs.
It seems to mirror everything i.e. repeated cycles of stupidity. Wars only enrich the “machine” and the “machine” doesn’t give a damn.
funny how just a few years ago the troika more or less ordered greece to effectively shut down domestic arms industry.