In his speech at the DEFEA Conference – Current Strategies for a Challenging World, the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff (HNDGS), Lieutenant General Dimitrios Houpis, referred to the unstable geopolitical environment and the challenges the Hellenic Armed Forces have to face as well as the effort to modernize the Forces.

The Chief of HNDGS emphasized that the number of Armed Conflicts around the world currently raging across the globe stands at 55, with everything this entails in respect of fragile peace and security.

It is the Hellenic Armed Forces’ fundamental axiom that the operational availability of weapon systems is by all means a binding condition for the successful fulfillment of their mission, Lieutenant General Dimitrios Houpis emphasized.

The Chief also referred to the new threat environment formed by the integration of modern technology, underlining that the use of unmanned systems and countermeasures, compared to the multi-layered anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic defence as a whole, is the catalytic and dominant factor in obtaining a strategic advantage and prevalence in the modern operational environment.

Furthermore, he placed special emphasis on operations that take place in cyberspace. “As a rule, these are hybrid threats,” he emphasized, adding that “this January, the Directorate of Cyber ​​Defence of the HNDGS repelled more than 5 million incidents of cyber attacks of various forms, which were aimed at the websites and IT infrastructure of the Armed Forces.”

Lieutenant General Houpis also referred to the establishment of a special Branch of Defence Technology at the HNDGS for Evolution, Innovation and Defence Technology, clarifying that it aims to monitor new technological systems and equipment and the possibility of their rapid integration into the Hellenic Armed Forces.

Finally, the Chief made a special reference to the personnel of the Hellenic Armed Forces.

“Without a doubt, any investment in defence cannot be understood without the corresponding upgrading of the training of the manpower (permanent and reserve) starting from our Academies, which, in cooperation with the academic educational institutions of the country, are involved with research programs in the above design more dynamically and effectively in the new innovation ecosystem.”

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