It's disgusting what is happening in the media with the F-35 today, with the Belharra yesterday, with the Rafale the day before yesterday. The ignorant are cheering because they are charging the next generations 15 billion without returning a single penny to the country - through the defence industry!
Don't just shake your head! Things are tragic. The situation has gotten out of hand!
- What do you do with the very expensive weapons when in a time of crisis you can't support them, since you don't even have a basic defence industry?;
The Defence Industrial Strategy key principles explicitly state that: «In the complex environment of modern weapon systems, where supply chains are characterised by technological complexity, individual countries cannot ensure full autonomy in the field of security of supply by their own means. Consequently, Greece, in order to establish/maintain a defence technology and industrial base in critical areas relating to the protection of its essential security interests, is obliged, when concluding defence equipment supply contracts, to claim Industrial Participation from prospective suppliers/manufacturers within the framework of European legislation».
So Greece is «obliged» under the «European legislation» to claim Industrial Participation from prospective suppliers of weapon systems ! This «obligation» was abrogated by the present government when it bought aircraft and frigates from the French! The deeper reason is that this government and over time the NW do not believe in the capabilities of the domestic defence industry, which is why they do not give it any serious work! In particular, the political family of Mitsotakis has been allergic to the mere mention of the Greek Defence Industry. This is the truth.
The devaluation of the domestic defence industry is primarily the responsibility of the political system of the post-communist period, which for half a century used it as a vehicle (i.e. a washing machine) for its own benefit.
It also weighs on the business world itself, which is showing dangerous indifference. For example, the Association of Business and Industry is conspicuously indifferent to the crime being committed against the domestic defence industry at a time when the rival country, Turkey, is making strides in this crucial sector!
- Where are the once noisy interventions of the SEV during the PASOK governments? ;
- Why is it today keeping silence on the exclusion of Greek industries from co-production and major arms programmes?;
In the past, when every three months SEV issued announcements and condemned the PASOK governments, Kostas Laliotis had called SEV «a branch of the Right».
- Is this characterisation by Mr Laliotis as topical as ever? The «right wing» today is silent ! It is guiltily and defiantly silent , while the attitude of silence may prove to be nationally damaging at the end of the day...
I remember the current President of SEV, Dimitris Papalexopoulos in the period 89-90 serving his term in the office of the Chief of Naval Staff. It was a turbulent period with intense scandal-mongering cultivated by Konstantinos Mitsotakis« Southwestern party over the decision of the PASOK government to commission the construction of the German-designed MEKO frigates to the Skaramanga shipyards, discounting that this project will not be able to be implemented in Greece Just as today, SEV, as a »branch of the Right", remained a silent observer in the PASOK - Southwest conflict over the awarding or not of the construction of the three MEKO frigates to the Skaramanga shipyards...
In the end, life proved that the government of Andreas Papandreou and not the New Democracy of Konstantinos Mitsotakis was on the «right side» of history. Although delayed by ten years, due to the uncertainty of the ownership of Skaramanga, the frigates were built and delivered to the Greek Navy. The PASOK government won the bet because it relied on the experience and know-how of the Skaramagas shipyards, which since 1965 has built 45 surface ships (frigates, missile boats, patrol boats) and submarines for the Greek Navy!
More than thirty years later, the «wrong side» of history is repeating itself. The government of Mitsotakis' son ND excludes the Greek shipyards from building the French-designed Belharra frigates because it considers them unsuitable to undertake this project, as well as any other Greek industry to participate in a co-production program...
More than thirty years later, the «silent sailor» in the office of the Chief of Naval Staff is still «silent» in the office of the President of SEV, while another national crime is being committed before his eyes with the devaluation of the Greek defence industry.
Indifference, aphasia and... «cement be done»!
(Demos Verykios is a journalist)
