Greece commissions first Belharra frigate Kimon from France
Greece receives its first Belharra-class frigate, HS Kimon in order to modernise the Hellenic Navy with cyber-attacks resilience and air defence systems.
FDI-HN News
Navy / Maritime
Navy / Maritime
Defence Politics
Greece Eyes SAFE Loan for Fourth FDI-class Frigate Purchase
Athens may use EU SAFE loans to buy a fourth French FDI frigate, raising debate over whether funds meant to counter Russia should finance Greek-Turkish rivalry.
Navy / Maritime
Air
Greece Limits Rafales at 24 Jets
Greek Premier Mitsotakis states that the Hellenic Air Force will not buy more Rafale Jets; the Air Force will be limited to 24 Rafale Jets.
Navy / Maritime
Greece's Second FDI Frigate Meets the Sea
The Hellenic MoD has announced that the second Kimon-class FDI frigate, Nearchos (F-602) is launched.
Navy / Maritime
French Navy’s Upcoming FDI Frigate Faces a Delay
Naval Group’s FDI frigates, which are being built for the French Navy, are facing a delay of approximately a year, which might affect other deliveries.
Navy / Maritime
Weapon / Missile
Greek FDI Frigate Kimon Receives Extra VLS Cells
During the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ visit to France, 16 additional Sylver A-50 VLS cells were spotted on the FDI frigate Kimon.
Navy / Maritime
Hellenic Navy Considers Acquiring the 4th F/C FDI Belh@rra
The Greek Defence Ministry is considering acquiring the 4th frigate FDI Belh@rra as an LCS surface unit, and Coastal Patrol Vessel alternatives seem to fail.
Navy / Maritime
Naval Group Lays Keel of HN’s 3rd FDI Formion
On April 15, 2024, the first block of the third Greek FDI frigate HN “Formion” was laid at the Naval Group shipyard in Lorient.
Navy / Maritime
Naval Group Cuts Steel of 2nd FDI Frigate of Hellenic Navy
Naval Group has begun construction on the Greek navy's second FDI frigate. The steel-cutting ceremony took place at the Lorient Naval Group shipyard.
Navy / Maritime
Bilateral Relations
Greece Launches Three FDI HN Program with Naval Group
Today, Greece and the Naval Group signed the contracts for three defence and intervention frigates, plus one optional, and their in-service support.
Navy / Maritime
France wants to sign the Greek Deal
France and Greece want to end the acquisition struggle with Frégate de Défense et d'Intervention (FDI)(the export designation Belh@rra®) and Gowind corvettes.
Global Defence Trend Brief
- 12:00 Italy gives conditional approval to Leonardo-Baykar drone venture - Reuters reported that Italy has conditionally approved the Leonardo–Baykar joint venture to produce...
- 12:00 USNI looks at Türkiye’s defence-industrial rise through EFES 2026 - USNI News used the EFES 2026 exercise to examine how Türkiye is linking operational military activit...
- 12:00 Reuters tracks Ankara’s goal of doubling defence exports - Reuters reported that Turkish officials want to double defence exports within two years after export...
- 12:00 Breaking Defense highlights Turkish one-way attack systems at SAHA 2026 - Breaking Defense reported that Turkish companies used SAHA 2026 to unveil multiple one-way attack sy...
- 12:00 Defense News spotlights ASELSAN’s autonomous warfare concept - Defense News reported that ASELSAN used SAHA 2026 to present a future warfare concept centred on aut...
- 12:00 Le Monde examines Türkiye’s expanding defence footprint in Mali - Le Monde reported that Türkiye has become an increasingly important security partner for Mali throug...
- 12:00 French strategic study identifies Türkiye as a rising European supplier - The Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique assessed Türkiye as one of the most notable new entrants...
- 12:00 Middle East Forum analyses Baykar’s expansion into Europe - A Middle East Forum analysis argued that Baykar’s growing presence in Europe shows how production ca...
- 12:00 Jerusalem Post highlights Baykar’s export-heavy revenue model - The Jerusalem Post reported that Baykar generated roughly $1.8 billion in drone exports in 2024 and...
- 12:00 Foreign defence reporting keeps focus on KAAN’s next prototype phase - International defence coverage continued to highlight Turkish Aerospace’s target for the first ‘true...
- 09:00 NATO pushes allies to fill US air and naval capability gaps - Washington is pressing European allies and Canada to provide more manned and unmanned aircraft plus...
- 09:00 AI-driven drone swarms rise as a new NATO planning priority - NATO officials are warning that AI-enabled drone swarms could reshape warfare within five years, pus...
- 09:00 Counter-drone demand expands beyond battlefields into critical infrastructure - Growing drone incursions around airports, ports, oil facilities and data centres are accelerating de...
- 09:00 Europe’s loyal wingman race becomes a core airpower trend - Collaborative combat aircraft took centre stage at Berlin Airshow 2026 as European companies and air...
- 09:00 Ukraine’s drone combat know-how is becoming an export asset in Asia - Ukrainian drone firms are marketing battlefield-proven systems and swarm concepts in Japan, Taiwan a...
- 09:00 NATO accelerates live testing of counter-drone technologies - Alliance members and industry partners are expanding field trials of drone detection and interceptio...
- 09:00 Hypersonic threats keep driving demand for persistent tracking networks - The spread of hypersonic weapons continues to push Western defence planners toward integrated radar...
- 09:00 Military space resilience shifts toward larger distributed constellations - Armed forces are increasingly favouring proliferated satellite constellations over a small number of...
- 09:00 Autonomous maritime systems gain importance in surveillance and strike planning - Navies are broadening interest in autonomous surface and underwater systems for persistent ISR, infr...
- 09:00 Industrial surge capacity is becoming a decisive defence metric - Across missiles, drones and air defence, governments are placing more weight on production scalabili...
