The Minister of National Defence, Nikos Dendias, received today, Wednesday, 14 October 2026, the Federal Minister of Defence of Germany, Boris Pistorius, at the NATO Missile Firing Installation (NAMFI) in Crete.

The two ministers had a bilateral meeting, during which they exchanged views on cutting edge issues that concern the Ministries of Defence of the two countries within the framework of NATO and the EU.

Furthermore, they agreed to be in constant contact on the security issues and challenges that concern the two sides.

Finally, the Greek Minister invited his counterpart to visit Athens.

Mr. Dendias and Mr. Pistorius then attended live fires of the PATRIOT and LEFLASYS-OZELOT anti-air systems, as well as a live-fire certification of the new IRIS-Τ SLM air defence system, within the framework of air defence exercise “SPARTAN ARROW – 26”. Exercise “SPARTAN ARROW” is an annual exercise conducted by the German Armed Forces at the NATO Missile Firing Installation (NAMFI) in Crete.

The event was also attended by the Chief of Hellenic National Defence General Staff, General Dimitrios Choupis, the Chief of Hellenic Air Force General Staff, Lieutenant General (HAF) Dimosthenis Grigoriadis, the Ambassador of Germany to Greece Andreas Kindl, and senior military officers of the two countries.

During the joint press conference with his German counterpart, Mr. Dendias stated the following:

“Dear Minister, dear Boris,

It is my great pleasure and honour to welcome you to Greece and Crete at a time that is so demanding for the security of Europe.

Both the Federal Republic of Germany and Greece are at the centre of developments, both in NATO and the European Union.

I want to state clearly that the Hellenic Republic wants to enhance our defence and military relations with Germany, with more joint training activities, hosting German forces in Greece, enhancing interoperability, creating and acquiring common platforms.

Both countries are at a critical turning point with the radical reorganisation of their Armed Forces, in view of the great challenges we face.

In Greece, with the Agenda 2030, this effort is in progress, scheduled to be completed, as the name implies, by 2030, while Germany has already announced a particularly ambitious and important armaments programme. So there is a lot of room for cooperation.

Not only in traditional areas and traditional platforms, but also in cyber defence, unmanned systems, innovation, new technologies. We can transition from a simple cooperation to joint production, as well as to the development of common capabilities.

Furthermore, due to the different position of our countries in Europe, we have and we had the opportunity to discuss the challenges facing Europe all round.

Because I think, everyone understands this, that security is not a theoretical notion. It is a matter that concerns our citizens on a daily basis.

We can’t disregard geography, beyond the challenges we face from the north, especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. North Africa, the Sahel, the Middle East, are not distant and unimportant regions for Europe. They are areas where our peace, security, and economic resilience are also at stake.

Another matter we discussed is European unity, our unified European presence, also within the framework of NATO; both countries believe in transatlantic cooperation, in the future of NATO. We also believe that Europe and its defence capabilities do not antagonise NATO. They are complementary to NATO.

This is the common field of our European unity, which we can easily agree on when critical matters are at stake.

I also had the opportunity to explain to the Minister our own view, the way we feel about our region, the challenges to our security. And ask that we be in constant contact in order to be able to, frankly and within the framework of a dialogue – if you will – and clear understanding, put forth matters that concern our countries.

I would like to thank Boris, my German counterpart, for our meeting today and the frank exchange of views. Allow me to reiterate my invitation, it will be a great pleasure and honour to have him in Athens, after Crete; and I would like to assure him that the Hellenic Republic is always a frank and honourable partner of Germany.

Welcome to Crete today, dear Boris.

Thank you“.