The US
State Department announced the approval of the potential sale of frigates to
Greece. The approval also covered potential deal for long debated MEKO-200HN
modernization.
This move
is considered as a challenge to the secured deal between France and Greece.
Right after the US declaration, France and Greece had to underline that the
deal had already been done and Greece is to get Belharra frigates as planned.
Despite the
coherent approach, it was obvious that the US approval poured cold water on 10
weeks old France-Greece deal.
The US
offer may not directly affect ongoing Belharra case, however the need for
interim solution as well as fleets aging MEKO-200HN upgrade is still on the
table.
France
secured the Belharra deal with a significant discount, with hopes to continue
the commerce by providing GOWIND class corvettes. This plan is now being
challenged by US offer that covers immediate transfer of FREEDOM class Littoral
Combat Ships (LCS), as well as enviable MEKO-200HN upgrade.
The US
approval breaks MEKO-200HN upgrade into significant bullets, such as
COMBATSS-21 Combat Management System developed for FREEDOM class LCSs. Together
with potential transfer of decommissioned LCSs, COMBATSS-21 may provide instant
and seamless command and control integration for almost half of Hellenic Navy.
This sounds irresistible, in particular when France’s SETIS is considered to be
too French for HN.
As nothing
comes for free, the modernization piece has a budget ceiling of 2.5 billion
USD, thanks to high level of declared ambition. The money on the table will
much less of what has been declared, since the lion’s share has already delivered
to Belharra project, and there is little left of what was foreseen to get full
package of modern navy.
With the
assumption that the US approval may not break the almost secured France-Greece
deal, it clearly will create confusion and fuss on remaining piece of Greek arms
race.
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