The Minister of National Defence, Nikos Dendias, during his attendance at the Defence Ministers’ Summit in Brussels, stated, among other things, that he signed Greece’s accession to the European Sky Shield Initiative, Germany’s initiative for anti-missile protection. He also noted that Turkey will join on the same day.

The European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) concerns the development of a common multi-layered European air defence system. So far 17 countries have joined: Germany, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia, Romania, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. A pact has also been signed for Austria and Switzerland to join.

ESSI’s multi-layered air defence includes systems such as the IRIS-T, Patriot and Arrow 3.

Also read: European Sky Shield Initiative | Denmark and Sweden: the new members of the German air defence initiative