French frigates to give Greece naval supremacy over Turkey

The new first-class 'Belharra' frigates purchased by Greece will give it "an advantage of power and sovereignty for Greece." said manufacturer Naval Group, following the historic military pact signed with France on Monday.

Greece and Naval Group signed a memorandum of understanding on the procurement of three FDI HN ("Belharra") frigates for the Hellenic Navy in Paris, an agreement coming as part of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' visit to France on Monday.

Signing for Greece were National Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos, Naval Group President and General Manager Pierre Eric Pommellet, and MBDA President and General Manager Eric Beranger.

All three frigates FDI will be made at the group's shipyards in Lorient, the group said, adding that the first two will be delivered in 2025 and the third one in 2026.

The frigates will also interface with the European and NATO fleets.

About the FDI Frigate 
The FDI frigate is the 5th generation of combat ship for naval supremacy and crisis management. This warship is designed for navies looking for a compact frigate able to perform a large range of missions stand-alone or within a task force either. Like the FREMM, the FDI frigate features high level capabilities in anti-air, anti-surface, anti-submarine and asymmetric warfare domains, taking into account French Navy operational legacy acquired in wartime situation. As the first digital frigate, FDI frigate integrates latest-generation systems around a naval digital distributed cloud architecture, natively cyber-secured and compatible with the new Information Technologies developments and evolutions and provides sailors with adapted services. Different versions are available to embrace the specific needs of each navy. (source: Naval news)

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