Since 1974, when half of Megalonissos was occupied by Attila as a result of the junta's treacherous coup d'état -for which unfortunately no one was held accountable-, Greece and Cyprus, being under the constant threat of a neo-Ottoman revisionism, which projects its power throughout the Southeast Mediterranean and circulates maps with the Aegean divided into the tolerance, if not complicity, of the Great Powers - excluding France - devolved into an arms race and supermarket purchases, due to their apparently urgent nature.
This irrational process deprived Greece and Cyprus of the possibility to organize, while the conditions existed, a solid base of defense industry in all three branches of the Armed Forces with co-productions and then independent productions of advanced weapons systems.
The criminal thing in the whole affair is that important efforts to create weapons systems (ARTEMIS anti-aircraft, THOMAS KENAVROS, etc.) were undermined by circles that put profit above the national interest, leaving unused the potential of domestic defense companies that could have created a safe lead against the rapidly growing Turkish defense industry.
We have reached the highest point of wretchedness in Greece, which produced the first warship of mankind, the trireme, in 730 BC. not be able to have large shipyards for the necessary support of our fleet when Turkey is building frigates, submarines and aircraft carriers. In aviation, of course, things are much worse. While before the war the country had an aircraft factory, today it cannot build, even with co-production, a trainer aircraft, which, used as a light fighter, would offer its services in close support of military units, when Turkey prepares its own fighter aircraft. It is also regrettable that the ODA cannot undertake the upgrading of our transport aircraft. Of course, cooperation with Israel in this field may have strategic and political benefits, but it is time to develop our own forces as well.
This negative situation, the result of the absence of political will for a full 48 years after 1974, cannot be continued, for companies and individuals to reap super profits, while there is a possibility of a joint coordinating body of the individual defense efforts with the aim of unifying the now divided defense agencies and utilization of otherwise excellent Greek companies in all three branches of the Armed Forces with clear targeting and subordination of the defense companies of each branch to a common supervisory body, in which they will participate Universities and research centers. Thus there will be planning of the defense producers for each branch, e.g. for the ground army, armored vehicles, tanks, multiple rocket launchers, etc., for aviation, except for aircraft maintenance, and production of advanced training aircraft and light fighters, light helicopters, firefighting aircraft, UAVs, instead -drones systems etc. and for the navy, construction of frigates, corvettes, submarines, etc. In this organized defense effort, many worthy Greek scientists and skilled craftsmen will help, so that the country can acquire such a national defense infrastructure, which will ensure its prestige and commercial profits, but above all it will ensure the adequacy of defense material, which, as a rule, tends to remains in war conflicts.
It is of course fortunate that in the large orders that have already been placed or are under negotiation, the participation of domestic defense companies is sought to a great extent, the quality of their products both in the electronic and in the production and mechanical sectors has been recognized by foreign industrial houses. In fact, the proposals of some of them to improve the level of the existing armored vehicles by adding new turrets, new armor, etc. it is a commendable effort that should be supported by those in charge and in any case seek an improvement of the final product by adding missiles, electronic means, self-protection devices of armored vehicles and other appropriate measures. In this way, our country will acquire advanced weapon systems for the versatile strengthening of its defense. This intended aid acquires great interest with the proposal of a well-known German company for the transfer of the production line of advanced TOMA and TOMB (LYNX, PUMA, MARDER, etc.), which our country must absolutely reap. That also in cooperation with Serbia or the Czech Republic the production of multiple rocket launchers with a Greek production line should be pursued is a necessary consequence of a substantial upgrade of our defense capabilities. These piecemeal and piecemeal activities should be organized in the light of a long-term defense plan, so that the production of defense material becomes continuous and consistent. It goes without saying that since large orders take 3-6 years to deliver (Belhara frigates, F-16 Viper, F-35, new Rafale, etc.), the need to utilize the idle time until the event becomes imperative of some hot episode for the hasty covering of defense gaps, so that any Turkish attempt to occupy national territory is crushed in its infancy.
We must bear in mind that unfortunately the so-called "European borders" are the borders of our country and we AND ONLY WE will be called upon to defend them. The allies - except perhaps France - even NATO, in the event of a conflict, will resort to wishful thinking and will continue to strengthen Turkey with weapons systems, despite their apparent objections, because their economic and strategic interests are stronger than the principles of the international of law Indeed, the delayed delivery to Greece of the much-advertised F-35s, in contrast to their planned but aborted immediate delivery to Turkey, may be due to a maneuver by the American deep state, which is deaf and willfully blind to the flagrant Turkish violations of international law, to deliver in meanwhile in the neighbor at the same time the same aircraft.
This whole armament strategy must be organized together with Cyprus, whose small companies are rightly active in the defense sector, in order to give flesh and bones to the patriotic doctrine of the Unified Defense Area and to finally free Cyprus from the heavy breath of Attila . It is also self-evident that the reorganization of the Armed Forces with airborne forces and new equipment both at the level of transport and at the level of deterrence, must take into account all possible threats of the enemy, such as the movement of air guns to capture target islands behind the lines of defense, aerial and maritime UAVs and missile bombardment of populated areas, etc., to be able to deal with them effectively. We must realize that the revisionist threat of neo-Ottomanism is permanent in its assertive aims and the guarding of our sovereign rights is ensured only with a strong defense industry. If the necessary national resources are not sufficient, then the establishment of a national defense fund and the limitation of state waste gives a reliable answer to the economic aspect of the problem. We think it is an unnecessary luxury to lose this opportunity too.
Times don't change.
photo https://pixabay.com/el/
