Greece is reportedly ready to sign on the “dotted line” for a fourth Kimon-class Belh@rra frigate from France’s Naval Group, with the relevant defense minister set to travel on Wednesday to the latter’s shipyards, at the Brittany port of Lorient, for a signing ceremony.
Minister Nikos Dendias’ presence at the shipyard comes as the first Kimon-class frigate, the HN Kimon, commenced sea trials last month off France’s Atlantic coast.
A third such frigate for the Hellenic Navy, the HN Phormion, was recently laid at the Lorient shipyard.
With the expected signing on Wednesday, Greece’s navy stands to field the new state-of-the-art warships by 2028, with the fourth frigate to be named Themistocles, after the ancient Athenian statesman and victor at the Battle of Salamis.
For Athens, the goal now is for Greek contractors to participate in the fourth frigate’s construction up to 25%, with members of Parliament’s relevant armaments committee to be briefed on the specific defense program on Tuesday at a closed-door session.
According to the French weekly “Le Canard Enchaine”, a portion of the new frigate construction contract will include participation by Greek shipyards. The same press report cites a contract worth 900 million euros for the new warship. Previous estimates put the total cost for the first three frigates at three billion euros, including weapons systems.
If the press report proves accurate, then the fourth Kimon-class frigate will have a 100-million-euro discount.
The Greek government has not been shy about its demands for off-set benefits in order to procure a fourth Naval Group warship, namely, that a portion of construction to take place in Greece.
Defense sources in Athens have claimed that the French side has acknowledged that major naval surface ship contract has served as an “advertisement” for France’s defense industry.
The changes, modifications and weapons upgrades reportedly requested by the Hellenic Navy are also deemed, according to local sources, as boosting the Belh@rra’s capabilities in even the most demanding maritime operational zones.
The first of three frigates already ordered, the Kimon, is expected to be delivered this year, while 40 Hellenic Navy officers have been transferred to Lorient for training.
According to the Monday edition of the Athens daily “Ta Nea”, an inaugural crew for the second frigate, the Nearchos, has already been assembled.
Armaments, e-warfare systems, airborne platforms
All four frigates will include the standard 76 mm Oto Melara naval gun with the capability of using Vulcano ammunition, which is deemed as particularly effective against unmanned aircraft, RAM launchers with 21 rockets and 20 mm Narwal guns for close-quarters protection, 32 Aster anti-aircraft missiles – as opposed to 16 fielded on corresponding French Navy frigates – the SeaFire AESA electronic scanning radar, with a range of up to 500 km for airborne targets and 80km for marine targets.
At the same time, they will be equipped with eight Exocet anti-ship missiles, and it will deploy the Captas-4 (towed) sonar system.
Finally, the Kimon-class frigates will host the Romeo anti-sub helicopters and the S-100 UAVs.
