Greece Buys Missiles from Israel Against Türkiye

In this period when Türkiye is prioritizing domestic investments in the defense industry, Greece is also focusing on armament. Greece has announced a new armament program that it will spend 25 billion Euros on over 12 years. Air defense and air attack systems will be the priority within the scope of this program. Greece will make the largest purchases for its new program from the US and Israel.

A significant portion of the 5 different types of missile systems called “Achilles’ Shield”, planned to be deployed near the Aegean islands and the Turkish-Greek land border, are planned to be purchased from Israel.

In his speech in parliament on Wednesday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated that replacing the Patriot missiles purchased from the US with new ones would take at least 4-5 years and that Europe’s means were limited, and said, “Israel, with whom we have a strategic alliance, can offer us these means in a shorter period of time.” Mitsotakis, who went to Jerusalem over the weekend and met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, signaled with these words that Israel will play an important role in the “Shield of Achilles.”

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According to Greek media, Greek officials have been holding talks with the manufacturer IAI for a while to purchase medium-range Barak-type missiles from Israel. It is also reported that Greek officials are in contact with Israel’s ELBIT company to purchase 36 Puls-type multiple rocket launcher systems.

Israel has previously sold Barak and other missiles to Türkiye’s other neighbor, Azerbaijan.

Greece’s new armament program also includes the purchase of 20 F-35 fighter jets from the US in the first phase.

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4 April 2025