Greece eyeing on India's BrahMos Maritime Coastal Batteries to deter the growing fleet of the Turkish Navy

Source : RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

BrahMos supersonic cruise missile fired from Mobile Autonomous Launcher for land-based deployments (File Pic)

Amid growing clamor to establish a military link with India, some Greek Politicians and defense analysts in the country have been urging Greece Government to procure Next-Generation Brahmos Maritime Mobile Coastal Batteries (NGMMCB) for the Navy from India to counter its rival Turkey’s rapidly growing naval strength.

Greece and France recently signed a $2.8 billion Rafale deal this January. Greece is purchasing 18 of those 4.5-generation multirole jet fighters and also placed orders for 3 French-built Belharra frigates. Greece is facing growing threats from Islamic Turkey that is growing its Naval capacities at rapid space and has been planning to argue its Naval capabilities over the last few years.

Greece Navy was always interested in the procurement of BrahMos AShM supersonic cruise missiles but being a NATO country it was difficult for them to procure a weapon system that was co-developed using Russian technology installed in the frontline warships. BrahMos Maritime Coastal Batteries is a new derivate that is under design from 2019 onwards and Philippines is set to be the launch export customer of such system. Indian Navy already has equipped its frontline warships with the BrahMos anti-ship missile (AShM) variant. idrw.org has been told that Greece has not contacted India nor any level of talks has been held. BrahMos corps a few years ago had received inquiries from the Greece Navy but even then no talks were held.

Turkey and Greece Conflict

Turkey and Greece have a coastline on the Mediterranean, where Turkey often sent out drillships to explore for energy on its continental shelf, asserting its rights in the region while both countries have maritime territorial boundary claims not agreed by each other. Northern Cyprus was invaded by Turkey and at the time, the UN Security Council denounced the new government as “invalid” and in violation of the 1960 Treaty.

Turkey and India have been loggerheads after President Erdogan started speaking in favor of Pakistan on the Kashmir issue and his pan-Islamic leadership challenge to Saudi Arabia has not gone down well with the Arab countries. Turkey also has activated its state media that is trying to build the Kashmir narrative as per Pakistani lies and Turkey and Pakistani Intelligence agencies have been accused by Indian agencies of funding some of the Kashmiri radical groups to wage a war against India.

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