Introduction
On 15
September 2025, after six years of construction and sea trials since
October 2024, the French frigate Amiral Ronarc’h left the shipyard and
sailed to her home port of Brest.
Greece,
closely following the program, hopes that the three sister ships still under
construction at the same yard will become the new “Averof” of the
Hellenic Navy—a flagship of national pride and deterrence.
At the same
time, Greece is setting ambitious goals: by 2030, Athens intends to
field the strongest navy in its modern history, while gradually raising
the domestic production share in defense procurement to 25 percent.[1]
The
Current State of Play
To better
evaluate these 2030 objectives—particularly as benchmarks set against Türkiye—it
is useful to summarize the present state. The average age of the Hellenic
Navy’s combat fleet now exceeds 30 years, making the five-year window
for transformation appear unrealistic.
Despite
efforts to rapidly rejuvenate its force, Greece’s procurement compass has swung
repeatedly between Italy and France, without producing a stable outcome.
Stopgap solutions—such as acquiring used FREMM frigates—may refresh the fleet
in the short term. Yet issues of integration, logistics, and training
loom large and are unlikely to be solved easily. Even if fleet modernization
succeeds, the overall numbers in terms of quantity will not
significantly increase.
The first Belharra
frigate KIMON is scheduled for delivery in 2025, making the
operational readiness of its French sister ships critical. Although KIMON will
be outfitted with certain enhancements beyond the French standard, the reliance
on a complex, multinational mix of weapons and sensors—without strong
domestic integration capacity—poses risks. Each additional system package will
translate into higher costs and dependencies. Notably, a decision has still not
been finalized on the Electronic Warfare suite, leaving another gap in
the integration puzzle.
Manned–Unmanned
Integration Ambitions
Athens has
also expressed ambitions to use the Belharras as the backbone for manned–unmanned
teaming. Yet this vision requires overcoming not only integration
challenges, but also fundamental changes to combat management and communication
architectures.
Given that
Greece’s initial USV programs will likely start with simple platforms,
the vision of fully networked, manned–unmanned task groups by 2030 seems
optimistic.
Despite
headline programs such as Belharra and new submarines, Greece is determined not
to fall behind Türkiye in unmanned systems. It continues development of two
branches of USVs—“Reconnaissance/Surveillance” and “Multipurpose”—while
also advancing, with Israeli support, the 5.5-ton BlueWhale autonomous
submarine project.[2]
Prospects
Toward 2030
If all
programs are executed flawlessly—with no delays in training or
integration—meeting the 2030 target might be possible. However, the troubled MEKO
mid-life modernization, which has dragged on for years, casts doubt on the
likelihood of a smooth transition.
Ultimately,
Greece is chasing a moving target: every step forward is matched by new
complexities, making the goal seem both ambitious and elusive.
References
[1] ABNAse, “Dendias announces strategic shift for the Navy – New units,
advanced weapons and communication systems,” July 2, 2025.
[2] Naval Technology, “IAI to Equip Greek Navy with Autonomous
Submarine,” May 8, 2025.
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