Modi’s proposal to Mitsotakis chronicles the discussions on defence cooperation between Greece and India.
India wants to sell BrahMos anti-ship hypersonic missiles to Greece and invest in the Greek defence industry. This was raised at the last meeting between the Prime Ministers of India, Narendra Modi, and Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The BrahMos is a top-notch weapon, and I wish Greece could acquire it. However, it remains unknown whether NATO and the US want it. It is a strategic weapon produced by India that would change naval power across the entire geographical spectrum between the Aegean, Crete, and Cyprus.
BrahMos is a hypersonic weapon with a ramjet engine, meaning it can have a much more destructive penetration than subsonic missiles like the well-known US Tomahawk missile or the Ukrainian Neptune naval missile that sank the Russian fleet flagship in April 2022.
BrahMos can target enemy warships up to 300 kilometres from the coast, covering a very large geographical area.
However, it is not at all certain that NATO and the US will allow it, as no other member country of the Alliance possesses such Indian missiles.
It is clear that Modi’s proposal for the BrahMos and the possibility of investments in the Greek defence industry is of a strategic and not commercial nature, as he also chooses Greece after Italy and Spain as the third investment platform in Europe to storm the European market and at the same time a major dip in the 100 billion euros that the EU will allocate for its defence industry.
Recently, after the meeting of the two prime ministers, visits to Athens by representatives of Indian defence industries have been increasing. India is conducting market research in the existing Greek defence industry, examining the possibility of joint investment projects or even the acquisition of some of them, mainly startups – (newly established) businesses that, thank God, are scattered throughout Greece, but the Greek state has never given them any attention or helped them for their further development.
In fact, many of them make significant exports to foreign countries but not to their own!
It is noteworthy that the mobility of Indians developing in the Greek defence industry remains unannounced. After all, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has officially said that cooperation between the two countries at a business level focuses on the following sectors: infrastructure (ports, airports), high technology, renewable energy sources, tourism, food, medicines and shipping.
Of course—over the last forty years, many discussions have been initiated on defence cooperation between Greece and India, but none have come to fruition to date.
The timeline of the efforts is as follows:
► In the 1980s, there was a discussion between the then EAS (Hellenic Defence Systems) and the Indian authorities. They had reached an advanced stage so that the Indian armed forces could choose the highly capable Greek anti-aircraft system ARTEMIS-30 offered by EAS! Although the design and development of ARTEMIS-30 had been completed in the early 1980s, Indian experts judged that the system was still of interest, having significant capabilities to deal with both air and ground targets. Of course, while the opportunity was truly great to revitalise the EAS with a large international order, most likely with co-production of the system in the two countries, nothing progressed, and one can assume that the failure is related on the one hand to the furious reaction of the New Democracy (Konstantinos Mitsotakis) but also to the general framework of distorted operation that characterises (even today) the part of the Greek defence industry that is still under state control and is faltering.
► Discussions were rekindled in the second half of the 1990s under the ministry of Akis Tsochatzopoulos, but without any results.
► The issue of Greek-Indian cooperation in the defence industrial sector was rekindled in 2015, when on Christmas Eve, the then Minister Panos Kammenos travelled to New Delhi, accompanied by the Director General of Armaments and a group of Greek businessmen from the Defence Industry. At that time, the first Industry Day was organised between the two countries’ defence industries. The two sides agreed to strengthen their cooperation in defence industry matters and cooperation between the three arms.
► In March 2016, under the Director General of Armaments, Greece visited India, and many Greek companies participated in a defence exhibition in Goa. In February 2022, an online event was held between the Armaments Directorate and the corresponding service of the Indian Ministry of Defence.
► In August 2023, the Indian Prime Minister visited Greece, while in February 2024, Mr. Mitsotakis visited India, where approximately 70 businesspeople accompanied him. In the list of businesspeople, we saw only one company related to defence!
► Two months later (April 2024), the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, General Houpis, travelled to India to sign a defence cooperation agreement.
► Three months after July 2024, the Director General of the General Directorate of National Defence Policy and International Relations (GDPEADS) of the Ministry of National Defence (MND), Ambassador Emeritus Michel Spinellis, in the context of the activities to strengthen bilateral defence relations between Greece and India, held consultations with his Indian counterpart. The main focus of the talks was strengthening bilateral and defence relations, including the defence industry.
► Earlier this month, during the Prime Minister’s visit to London, Indian financial tycoons living in Great Britain met at the residence of the Greek ambassador there.
Prospects
The question is whether there are realistic possibilities for defence cooperation between Greece and India today. Whether there is serious interest and real political will on the Greek side.
As a major regional power developing superpower speeds, India has a reputation in the market for purchasing or co-producing weapons systems from third countries. After a short time, it does the obvious by reverse engineering, copying these systems, and producing them on its own.
Dimos Verykios is a columnist for iEidiseis. Translated by Paul Antonopoulos.
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