According to a relevant announcement by the Governmental Council of Foreign Affairs and National Defence (KYSEA) under the Prime Minister, the supply of SPIKE NLOS (Non-Line-Of-Sight) systems was approved to meet the needs of the Hellenic Armed Forces, alongside a briefing on the progress of other armament programs.

It is recalled that the Hellenic Armed Forces wish to acquire the SPIKE NLOS type guided missile systems, under a contract worth some 370 million euros, expected to equip certain units of the Hellenic Army, but also of the Army Aviation and more specifically the Apache attack helicopters.

🇬🇷Stand-Off we go 🚀 #spikenlos pic.twitter.com/vAqG8DCoYK

— DEFENCE ReDEFiNED (@Def_Redefined) March 29, 2023

In fact, these missiles are expected to join the arsenal of four Gunboats and four Special Operations Crafts of the Hellenic Navy.

It is worth mentioning at this point that the Offshore Patrol Vessel “Commodore A. Ioannidis” of the National Guard’s Naval Command can carry eight ready-to-launch SPIKE NLOS missile launchers.

The supply of the SPIKE NLOS missile systems had particularly concerned the Turkish press, due to the extended range of the missiles, that is, up to 50 km when launched from a helicopter and up to 32 km when launched from land or naval platforms.

Also read: Rafael | The 6th generation Spike-NLOS missile is unveiled at “Eurosatory 2022”

At the beginning of January, the Minister of National Defence, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, had stated that it is a complex weapon system, which can also be integrated into ground vehicles, surface ships, and helicopters. Furthermore, the Minister had emphasized that three different contracts were concluded with different terms and technical specifications.

Finally, the programs, which were updated during the KYSEA meeting, were those of the supply of corvettes, the modernization of the MEKO 200HN frigates, the limited upgrade of 19 AH-64A Apache attack helicopters, and the F-35 fighters.

KYSEA unanimously approved the above programs authorizing the competent services of the Ministry of Defence to proceed with the signing of the relevant contracts.

Due to the political situation, it remains to be seen whether these will be implemented before or after the May 21 elections.

Also read: Panagiotopoulos on Spike NLOS | Contracts to be signed by early February