Naval Group is opening the door to the modernisation and restructuring of the Greek defence and shipbuilding industry, according to the president and CEO of the French defence giant Pierre Eric Pommellet, who granted an interview to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) on Tuesday.
As Pommellet pointed out, the transfer of know-how is in Naval Group’s “DNA”. It is already working with a number of Greek companies on the Belharra frigate programme and has identified a number of others that could form part of its supply chain. Naval Group has also recently announced its bid for the Hellenic Navy’s corvette programme, in which it has pledged that 30 pct of the value of its Gowind corvette programme will be produced domestically in Greece.
Pommellet referred extensively to the interoperability displayed by the two types of ships, which he characterised as power multipliers, not only in terms of the capacity of the Hellenic Navy but also in terms of the Greek defence and shipbuilding industry. A particularly interesting point coming from someone who is at the helm of a group that recorded revenues of more than four billion euros in the fiscal year 2021. He also underlined that as the head of GICAN (the Association of French Shipbuilding Industries) he has already concluded an agreement with the equivalent Greek association for the promotion of cooperation between the two sides.
He additionally referred to the enhanced capacity for cooperation that the navies of Greece, Egypt and France will have in the event of the adoption of the Gowind corvettes – a “selection” of countries that was not at all random.
Accordingly, he made it absolutely clear that Naval Group intends to invest in the field of research and development in Greece, specifically mentioning energy transfer and autonomous drone systems as possible examples and mentioning the interesting work done by Greek companies such Sunlight and its innovative battery systems or the forward-looking initiatives in the Greek shipping sector.
SOURCE; ANA-MPA
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