Greece should boost navy, airpower in East Med

There has been some good news in recent days. At
last, the government and the prime minister – albeit belated – realised that
without significant reinforcement of our armed forces, any discussions either
with Turkey or with the various aspiring friends and allies, most of whom treat
us with “spurious friendship”, would be in vain. We have said this a hundred
times and I wonder how many more this must be repeated.
Great and unpleasant surprises are awaiting us if
our armed forces are not reinforced immediately. It was time for our
politicians to understand this. Now, whether this should be repeated, was well
understood by everyone, or whether the cantankerous opposition of certain
individuals does not allow them to consider things from a different
prospective, this is still to be answered. In any case, it was a good starting
point. An ambitious and large-scale programme was announced. Is this enough?
It's good, but it needs improvement, maturity and specialisation.
1. The programme will evolve over a period of
several years, thus it could not have a positive impact on the prevailing,
rather difficult, circumstances unless substantial funds are granted in order
to address the current needs of the Hellenic Navy and the Air Force and aimed
at addressing many years of neglect. This issue is of even greater importance
today because our fleet has to remain at sea for weeks on end and, most
importantly, far from its bases (unlike the Turkish fleet that operates very
close to its own naval bases). Furthermore, our Air Force needs to be flying
constantly, resulting in considerable exhaustion of resources and personnel.
It is therefore necessary to disburse substantial
sums of money immediately so that our ships can be maintained, repaired,
further equipped and loaded with spare parts and weapons so they can safely
stay at sea for long periods of time. At the moment, this is the number one
problem for both our Navy and our Air Forces. I hope that Prime Minister
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who has now fully understood the magnitude and complexity
of the problem our armed forces are facing, will provide an immediate solution
so that the necessary funds can be disbursed.
2. The second problem, of equal importance, is the
unacceptable bureaucracy in financial and resources management, even for the
smallest amounts. The current law is not only harmful, but also dangerous for
national security, and for this reason I agree with the position of Prodromos
Emphietzoglou which was reflected in his letter addressed to Kathimerini few
days ago. Within said letter he announced that he was filing suit against
members of the Court of Auditors regarding the extended delay in approving the
execution of an agreement related to the needs of the Navy.
ne would wonder whether those public officers, who
have been sitting on the needs of the armed forces for months, are
conscientious public servants who perform their duties in accordance with the
law, or commit acts of high treason which, by means of their actions and
omissions, immobilise a frigate at the naval base, while if they had
immediately approved the existing requisitions, said frigate would be in the
southern Aegean Sea facing the superior Turkish fleet and defending our
country.
3. Neither the armaments programmes nor the
(correctly introduced) additional measures announced by the prime minister
suffice. What is necessary is radical changes in the antiquated and
old-fashioned way in which the armed forces have developed to date despite the
fact that needs have changed radically.
If 1,000 tanks (out of the 1,400 we have) could be
exchanged and replaced by ships and aircraft, we would be in a much better
position. If we had spent money to develop the naval base at Souda on Crete, we
would now have naval cover south of Crete and in the eastern Mediterranean Sea
at a much lower cost and without the exhaustion of resources and personnel. If
we shut down 100 army camps all over Greece, we would have money for more ships
and aircraft. If we reduced the number of ships in our fleet while rendering
them more efficient and reliable, our fleet would be much better prepared for
combat. If we had given all the assistance described herein to our ships, crews
and officers years ago, rather than today, we would not merely be relying on
their patriotism but would have a whole lot of equipment and personnel at a
much more battle-ready level. However, let us not whine.
We have now taken a big step forward. Greece decided
to spend billions to do what still needs to be done, and should have been done
many years ago. The aforementioned comments aim solely at enhancing the present
circumstances by means of setting out in the right scope the schedule and procedures
of the actions that need to be taken in this respect.
Conclusion: A call on the prime minister: we require
the immediate disbursement of a substantial amount of funds toward the daily
needs of the Navy and the Air Force accompanied by the immediate abolishment of
the unbearable bureaucracy through new legislation.
Mr Prime Minister, allow those things to happen and
in a few months – not years – you will be rubbing your eyes at the increase in
the operational capability of our armed forces.