Greece plans to close 187 of its 831 military camps as part of a revised armed forces structure that redirects resources to personnel, equipment, and new technologies, according to Greek City Times.
Defense Minister Nikos Dendias outlined the plans to the parliament’s defense and foreign affairs committee during a closed-door briefing.
Camps slated for closure have limited operational importance and staffing levels at or below 30 percent of their planned strength.
Closing them would allow Greece to reinforce more critical units.
Dendias said savings from the reorganization would be reinvested in military personnel under an agreement with the State General Accounting Office.
The broader restructuring is expected to save approximately 530 million euros ($595 million) over five years.
Dendias also called for naval crews to spend no more than 200 days at sea, with substantially higher compensation when operational requirements demand longer deployments.
Integrating Unmanned Systems
Alongside the camp closures, Greece plans to merge or disband 56 units and 126 organizational structures, Dendias said at a separate press conference on the restructuring’s third phase.
The changes also include an unmanned systems brigade at Litochoro, a dedicated base for air force drones and autonomous aircraft, and a navy command responsible for unmanned and autonomous systems.
Additional units will focus on cybersecurity, space applications, and human-source intelligence.
Defense Spending
The restructuring comes as Athens plans to invest 28 billion euros ($31 billion) in military modernization through 2036.
Defense spending currently stands at nearly 3.5 percent of GDP, up from 2.8 percent last year, when expenditure totaled 6.9 billion euros ($7.74 billion).
Meanwhile, Greece has reached an agreement with the US earlier this month covering up to $4 billion in weapons purchases and F-16 upgrades.
The package would bring older F-16s to the Viper configuration and provide advanced missiles and bombs for Greece’s F-16 Vipers, planned F-35 fleet, and Black Hawk helicopters.
