Greece To Receive 400 M1117 Armored Vehicles Amid Military Upgrade - Defense Minister

Greece will receive 400 M1117 Guardian armored security vehicles in 2023 as part of the expansion and modernization of its military arsenal under contracts with several countries, Greek Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos said on Friday

ATHENS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th January, 2023) Greece will receive 400 M1117 Guardian armored security vehicles in 2023 as part of the expansion and modernization of its military arsenal under contracts with several countries, Greek Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos said on Friday.

"We expect to receive another 400 M1117 armored surveillance vehicles this year," Panagiotopoulos said at a parliamentary meeting during a discussion of a vote of no confidence against the Greek government.

The armored vehicles are part of 172 defense projects approved by the government and made possible through the deals it has negotiated with other countries, Panagiotopoulos said. This includes a Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement with the United States and strategic agreements with France, Israel, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Greece is in talks with Germany and the United Kingdom to conclude similar strategic agreements, he added.

Among other military items contracted by the Greek government for acquisition or modernization Panagiotopoulos mentioned US-made F16 fighter jets and French-made Mirage and Rafale jets, as well as Belharra and Meko frigates, Spike NLOS precision-guided missiles, and Romeo anti-ship helicopters.

The defense minister added that Greece would receive four German tracked infantry fighting vehicles Marder 1 in coming days in exchange for Soviet amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicles BMP-1, which Athens transferred to Kiev.

In December, Panagiotopoulos said that Greek parliament had adopted the 2023 budget at 5.65 billion euros ($5.9 billion).

On Wednesday, the leader of Greece's main opposition party SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras, submitted a motion of no confidence against the Greek government and accused Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of organizing mass wiretaps of government officials. The scandal with wiretapping of opposition politicians and journalists in Greece began in the summer of 2022. The government admitted that the special services wiretapped the phones of a number of politicians, establishing a "legitimate connection" to them, but categorically denied that it used the Predator malware to spy on people.