Greece and Israel signed a bilateral agreement today, which provides for the construction of a complex air, missile and drone defense system, reports the Greek agency ANA-MPA, quoted by BTA.
The agreement was signed today in Tel Aviv. The budget of the program amounts to 3,035,000,000 euros, and 19 Greek companies are expected to participate in its implementation.
"Israel and Greece have signed a large-scale agreement on "Achilles Shield", an agreement on the basis of which Israel will build a multi-layered air defense system based on the architecture of Israeli systems," the Israeli Defense Ministry said in a statement on the occasion of the initialing of the document, the electronic edition of the Greek newspaper "Kathimerini" reported.
The ministry's statement also noted that Israel will sell Greece anti-missile systems worth 26 million euros, Reuters reported.
The air defense system "Achilles Shield" will combine existing Greek military equipment, including Patriot air defense systems and unmanned aerial vehicles deployed at military sites on the islands and the mainland, with Israeli air defense systems.
These include Rafael's Spyder short-range self-propelled systems, Israel Aerospace Industries' Barak MX systems for countering medium-range threats, and David's Sling, designed to intercept ballistic missiles and other long-range threats.
The system will operate using software based on artificial intelligence. It will identify and classify potential threats and suggest the most effective ways to respond. The "Achilles Shield" will be connected to subsystems responsible for missile defense, drone countermeasures, and broader air defense operations, which analyze data without human intervention and indicate the optimal response.