On Saturday 15 February 2025, the Minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias visited the headquarters of the XXIV Armored Brigade (1st Cavalry Regiment – “FLORINA”) in Litohoro, accompanied by the Chief/HAGS, Lieutenant General Georgios Kostidis, the Commanding General of the Hellenic First Army/EU-OHQ “ACHILLEAS”, Lieutenant General Stavros Papastathopoulos, and the Commanding General of C Army Corps-NRDC GR, Lieutenant General Athanasios Garinis. The Minister was welcomed by the Commanding General of the XXIV Armoured Brigade, Brigadier General Athanasios Tzikas.
The Minister was briefed on the implementation of the Hellenic Army’s New Force Structure by the Commanding General of the II Mechanised Infantry Division, Major General Ioannis Papoutsakis; next, addressing the members of the XXIV Armored Brigade, he stated:
“I was really glad for the briefing which showed me that the new Force Structure is processing at a quick pace, as it was approved by the Governmental National Security Council, following a briefing of the Hellenic Parliament.
It is really impressive that a lot of man hours are saved, working hours, which allow the beneficial use of our personnel, the greatest power factor of the Armed Forces.
Likewise, there are also significant financial resource savings. Those two together prove the necessity of the new Force Structure and the overall reform performed under the title of the “2030 Agenda”.
I would also like to say that an operational adjustment is required to the new conditions of modern warfare. A few days ago, here in Olympus, at the of Mountain Combat Skiers Training Centre, I attended a drone demonstration under adverse weather conditions, during a snowstorm.
The use of unmanned systems in the field is the current reality and the Hellenic Armed Forces should be familiar with and train for this reality.
Some weeks ago, at “Fort Sill”, at the U.S. Army C-sUAS University, I observed the evolution of UAS systems in the 21st century and I was impressed, as I said, by the level other armies have reached and which we are called to reach in a short time period.
Either way, we have marked a path with the “2030 Agenda”. With the full support of our personnel, devotion to duty, I am certain that we will reach our goal even sooner than expected.
On this occasion, I would like to express my gratitude again to the women and men of our Armed Forces for the support they provide to this huge reform effort, the greatest ever attempted in the country, as characteristically stated by the Prime Minister”.
Next, the Minister, in the presence of the Deputy Minister of Development and MP for Pieria Anna-Mani Papadimitriou and other MPs for Pieria Xenofon Baraliakos and Spyros Koulkoudinas, met with the Deputy Head of the Region of Central Macedonia for Pieria Sofia Mavridou, at the Regional Unit Offices in Katerini, as well as with the Mayor of Katerini Ioannis Doumos at the city Town Hall.
The meetings were also attended by representatives of the local government, industry and professional union stakeholders.
