Greece to shut 187 military camps in sweeping armed forces overhaul, Dendias says savings will go to personnel

by · Greek City Times

Greece plans to close 187 of its 831 military camps as part of an updated structure for the armed forces covering 2026 to 2035, according to Kathimerini.

Defence Minister Nikos Dendias briefed members of parliament’s Standing Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs in a closed-door session, stressing savings from consolidating units and camps and the integration of new technologies.

Which camps will close

According to sources cited by Kathimerini, the camps to be shut are staffed at no more than 30 per cent of planned personnel and their operational importance was judged to be limited.

Read more: Greece and US Sign Defence Agreement With Florida National Guard

Closing them is estimated to save about €100 million a year and €1.7 billion over a decade, the newspaper reported, with the money going towards a housing program for armed forces personnel and small procurement programs. Staffing at critical units could approach 70 per cent in peacetime.

Speaking at a press conference on the third phase of the “New Structure” of the armed forces, Dendias said the changes would lead to mergers and abolitions of 56 units and 126 structures, Proto Thema reported.

Ethnos and To Vima reported the restructuring is estimated to save €530 million over five years.

Savings “will be reinvested in our personnel”

Dendias said his understanding with the State General Accounting Office was that the savings would be returned to personnel.

“On principle, I want to be absolute: this money will be reinvested in our personnel,” he said, according to Proto Thema. “We believe their reward for what they offer the homeland must be better.”

He also said fleet crews should not be kept at sea for more than 200 days, and that where national duty required longer deployments, compensation would be “a multiple of today’s”.

Drones and a “hybrid era”

Dendias said the third phase marks the transition of the armed forces into a “hybrid era”, with the full integration of unmanned and autonomous systems across all branches.

Plans include an unmanned systems brigade at Litochoro, a base for unmanned and autonomous aerial vehicles for the Hellenic Air Force, and a command for autonomous and unmanned systems in the Hellenic Navy.

The update also incorporates new units focused on cybersecurity, electronic intelligence, space applications and human-source intelligence, as well as the multilayered air defence dome known as the Achilles Shield, Kathimerini reported.

Dendias also said Greece is interested in acquiring collaborative aircraft to operate alongside its future F-35 fighters, and that he would recommend to the Government Council for National Security (KYSEA) that Greece’s Patriot battery remain in Saudi Arabia, Ethnos reported.

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