The leadership of the Navy (PN) feels absolutely vindicated as the construction program of the Greek FDI frigates is progressing rapidly and ahead of schedule. At the same time, the cooperation between the Naval echelon of Lorient of the PN and the NAVAL GROUP is completely successful.
According to the writer’s information, at the end of October and the beginning of November, the first Greek frigate will be in the so-called dry dock at the time when, during the aforementioned period, the first French frigate will enter the water. The speed of shipbuilding and delivery of the French FDI have emerged as the main advantages of the French of the NAVAL GROUP who also claim the corvette program with an excellent proposal.
Hence the PN officers who expressed as one of the main advantages of the French Naval Group the shipbuilding and delivery times which were really the best against all other competitors. A high-ranking officer of the GEN expressed in a private meeting with the writer his absolute satisfaction over the preference of the French proposal for frigates at a time when, as he commented, photos of the construction of the MMSCs of Saudi Arabia are still being sought.
It is noted that the delivery of the first Greek FDI has as a milestone in March 2025, while the second one in October of the same year. But with the current development of the schedule, the PN will be able to receive the ships earlier than the schedule.
At the same time, the PN’s desire has been expressed through Vice Admiral Stylianos Petrakis to the Minister of National Defense (NDD) and the political leadership for the acquisition of the fourth FDI frigate. There are also discussions within the PN for more than four FDI frigates since the satisfaction of the PN is more than a given.
There are also developments in the issue of covering the ships’ ECM system since the French, as we are informed, have already presented solutions for the installation on the Greek FDI. The solutions concern either the development and installation of a new system in collaboration with Thales and the Naval Group or the installation of an existing but new generation fully upgraded such as the French FREMM and specifically NETTUNO. Discussions are ongoing and there will be good news soon.
At the same time, in a recent collaboration between the officers of the PN, the French Navy and Thales, the top capabilities of the CAPTAS 4 towed sonar were demonstrated, which according to information achieve submarine detections at 26,000 yards, a record number for Greek data. PN officers got a similar pleasant shock when they entered MBDA’s presentation of the Aster 30 combined with the performance of the SEA FIRE fixed array radar.
