The US State Department announced on Friday the approval of the potential sale of naval frigates to Athens to challenge a deal announced between France and Greece in September.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said it had approved the sale for $6.9 billion of four Lockheed Martin combat frigates, known as multi-mission surface combatant ships, just 10 weeks after Athens signed a memorandum of understanding with Paris on a similar deal for French-built ships.

The agency also approved a $2.5 billion Lockheed program to upgrade Greece's MEKO class frigate, including adding and upgrading weapons systems and electronics.

The announcement suggested that France faces a fresh commercial arms deal threat after the United States wrested away a massive submarine contract for Australia in a shock announcement on September 15 that ruptured relations between Washington and Paris.

France recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia and labelled it a "stab in the back" by an ally when Canberra ditched a longstanding deal worth billions of euros to buy conventional French submarines for US nuclear-powered vessels.

Two weeks after that, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis set a memorandum of understanding with President Emmanuel Macron for France to buy three and possibly four French Belharra frigates for three billion euros ($3.5 billion).

The French ships would be built by Naval Group for delivery beginning in 2024.

In the France-Greece deal, the two sides had until the end of this year to reach a final agreement.

Related Links
Naval Warfare in the 21st Century

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Russia, ASEAN hold first naval drills off Indonesian coast
Jakarta (AFP) Dec 1, 2021
Russia and a number of Southeast Asian countries kicked off their first ever joint naval exercise along the Strait of Malacca, one of the world's most important shipping lanes, on Wednesday, Indonesia's navy said. The drills come at a time of growing tensions in the Pacific, particularly around the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety. All ten members of ASEAN, Southeast Asia's regional bloc, participated in Wednesday's drills. Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, ... read more