ΕΙΔΗΣΕΙΣ

According to an announcement by the Hellenic National Defence General Staff (GEETHA), the Distinguished Visitors (DV-Day) day of the quadripartite exercise “HERCULES-21” was held on Thursday, September 23, 2021 in the presence of the Deputy Minister of National Defence, Mr. Nikolaos Hardalias, and the Chief of GEETHA, General Konstantinos Floros. The exercise is held for the first time from September 20-26, 2021 in the greater Attica region with the participation of personnel and means of the Special Operations Forces of Greece, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

In the context of this joint exercise, the following items were executed under the coordination of the GEETHA Special Warfare Command:

• Rapid Reaction Shooting
• Rapid Reaction Drills in an urban environment
• Abseiling using FAST ROPE
• Operations in naval environment
• Guided Fire
• First Aid Provision
• Joint exercise involving the Hellenic Army Aviation, Navy and Air Force

The DV-DAY was attended by the Chief of the Hellenic Air Force, Air Marshal George Blioumis, the Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff, Lieutenant General Charalambos Lalousis, the Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff, Vice-Admiral Stylianos Petrakis, the Ambassador of Egypt to Athens, Mr. Ismail Ahmed Khairat, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Athens, Mr. Saad Alammar, Mr. Hamad Al Ali United, Adviser to the Embassy of the the United Arab Emirates to Athens, as a representative of the Ambassador, the Director General of Civil Defence and International Relations of the Ministry of National Defence, Mr. Konstantinos Balomenos, representatives of the Chiefs of the Armed Forces of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, the Commander of the Special Warfare Command of GEETHA Lt. Gen. Georgios Tsitsikostas, as well as the Defence Attachés  of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Romania and Saudi Arabia.

According to the announcement, the Chief of GEETHA, in his short greeting, welcomed the distinguished visitors to Greece as well as the personnel of the Special Operations Forces of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia participating in the quadripartite exercise.

He then referred to the constructive role played by multilateral cooperation and training, especially that of the four countries, as in addition to enhancing the combat capability of the participants, the exercise contributes to their joint effort to consolidate security and stability in the wider Eastern Mediterranean region, the Middle East and North Africa, while highlighting our country as a pillar of Peace and Prosperity.

Also read: “Hercules 2021” | Special Forces Exercise of Greece, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates