Certainty that the powerful frigates will be ready before March 2025
Written by Stavros Ioannidis – [email protected] – SOURCE: POLITICAL –
[Μετατροπή σε κείμενο: ]
The construction process of the first two Greek FDI Belharra frigates at the Lorient shipyards in north-west France is progressing “at full strength”.
At the same time, Navy officials have begun preparations to find the personnel who will make up the crew of the first of three, or four if the option provided for in the agreement is activated, powerful ships that the country will acquire in the coming years. .
The personnel selection process is characterized as “extremely important” by high-ranking officials of the Navy, as they will bear the “burden” of the ships joining the Greek Fleet. First the captains of the frigates will be selected, who will travel to France to receive the Belharra and then they will undertake the honorable task of bringing them to Greece. The “most important” task they will be asked to carry out, however, is to make the ships “operational” as soon as possible, so that Greece can acquire the most powerful frigates in the Eastern Mediterranean and, therefore, the naval advantage in the wider region.
According to the planning of the Naval General Staff, the captain of the first Greek FDI Belharra, together with the ship’s crew, will move to France in mid-2023 and a few months later the first staff of the second ship will follow. In Lorient, the ranks of Navy officers will be waiting for them, who are already in France and are monitoring step by step the progress of the work on both the Greek and French frigates.
The largest parts of the first Greek ship are currently in the hangar of the Lorient shipyards and next October, when the French FDI “falls” into the sea for the first tests, its place in the “dry” tank (dry dock) will be take the Greek frigate. At the same time, the second Greek ship will begin to be “assembled” in the large hangar, as several of its parts are already being manufactured at the shipyard.
There is absolute satisfaction in the Greek Staff, as the work is almost two months ahead of the agreed schedule and, if everything goes as planned, the delivery of the first ship will take place much earlier than March 2025, which is provided for in the Athens-Paris agreement.
The most critical test for the state-of-the-art French frigates, however, is approaching and it is none other than the sea trials of the first ship coming off the production line, which will join the French Navy. The first step is to position the tower and activate the powerful “Sea Fire” radar, as well as Belharra’s electronic systems, which are one of the ship’s comparative advantages. After all, the French “prototype” is also the “pilot” for the Greek frigates. The French, in fact, assured the head of the GEN Vice-Admiral Stylianos Petrakis, who was recently in Lorient, that should any problem arise on the first ship, it would be dealt with in time, so that the first Greek FDI would have incorporated its solution.
Developments are also expected soon in the matter of corvettes, with the government having in its hands the file with the recommendations of the competent officers of the GEN, but giving the necessary time to clarify the status of the Greek shipyards. After all, even at the highest level, it has become clear that the ships will be built in Greece and this fact seems to “lead” the developments in the selection process of the smaller, but powerful Unit, which will join the Fleet in the near future.
