Defense Minister Nikos Dendias announced on Thursday a broader overhaul of the Greek Armed Forces including the shut down of 137 military bases across the country, the equipment with anti-drone system of all remaining ones and the transition to”flexible units.”
“We are proceeding with the closure of 137 bases, aiming to complete this by 2025. We’re doing it because we don’t have the money to close an additional 250,” Dendias said during a briefing to the Parliament’s Committee for National Defense and Foreign Affairs. noting that Greece has more bases than the United States.
He stressed that streamlining the arrangement is necessary due to limited financial resources. He also pointed out that he was expecting a backlash against the scheme, particularly from MPs and local authorities in areas where the local economy relies heavily on the bases.
“It makes no sense to have more camps than the United States, 800 or more. We have to move fast to close 137 camps by 2025 and I know what it means to be a district MP. Every city and stadium cannot also have a camp. We will abolish more than 30 formations, we will consolidate formations in order to increase our firepower”, he pointed out.
At the same time, he pointed out that every unit of the Greek army will have an anti-drone capability. And ability to broadcast drones.
“We will also go to a reform of military justice. The maritime courts and the air courts do not actually serve any need, since the average hearing of cases is 5 a year, when in the civil courts a similar judge hears 25 a day!” the minister added.
In addition he announced reforms for the military hospitals and a better family support system “because we need military personnel,” as he stressed.
The “strongest air force we’ve ever had”
Minister Dendias underlined that ” we have the strongest air force ever,” adding that “we will reach a ceiling of 200 aircraft.”
According to Dendias, during the 10 years of the economic crisis, 2.5 billion euros were missing per year, so a total deficit of 20 billion. Where there is private help, it is welcome. This year we will exceed 20 million. The potential threat has a budget of 40 billion euros. We estimate that we will go to 2 billion in savings over 10 years from operating costs and that is the pessimistic scenario.
Regarding reservists, the minister said that “we have to go to another reality. The numbers point to the need for the country to face a threat of nine times the population, this requires innovation.”
“We are transitioning to flexible, high-occupancy units. Right now, there are units in Evros that are at less than 30% capacity and a unit in the Peloponnese with 130% capacity,” he said of the controversial plan to close military bases.
