In its first test with an EU patrol in the Red Sea last year, Greece’s Centauros anti-drone system swiftly downed two Houthi-launched drones within minutes.
Another two drones swiftly retreated: Centauros had jammed their electronics, said Kyriakos Enotiadis, electronics director at state-run Hellenic Aerospace Industry (HAI), which produces the anti-drone system.
The successful test run added impetus to Greek government plans to develop a home-grown industry to mass produce anti-drone and drone systems – part of a 30-billion-euro programme aimed at modernising the country’s armed forces by 2036.
Named after the mythological half-man, half-horse creature, Centauros can detect drones from a distance of 150 km (93 miles) and fire from 25 km (15.5 miles). Greece plans to install it throughout its naval fleet.
“It’s the only battle-proven anti-drone system (made) in Europe,” Enotiadis said, as dozens of employees worked nearby, assembling electronic components of anti-aircraft missiles.
Up until now, Greece has been using only a few dozen ISR – intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance – unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), most of them made abroad, including in France and Israel.
As the multibillion-euro defence programme is rolled out, it will incorporate Greek-made anti-drone and combat drone systems into the armed forces, including its planned anti-aircraft ballistic dome, called Achilles Shield.
Historic Rivalry
Greece’s neighbour, NATO ally and historic rival Turkiye, is a prolific drone exporter.
Greece spends nearly 3.5% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defence due to the long-standing dispute with Turkiye, with the domestic defence industry accounting for only a fraction of that.
In the coming decade, it plans to invest some 800 million euros ($925 million) in defence innovation, said Pantelis Tzortzakis, CEO of the newly founded Hellenic Centre for Defence Innovation (HCDI), which is supervised by the Defence Ministry.
“Our target is to export as much as we spend on defence annually,” Tzortzakis said.
Altus, one of a few Greek private companies that manufacture combat drones, in cooperation with France’s MBDA, has produced Kerveros – a vertical take-off and landing UAV with a payload of more than 30 kg (66 pounds) that includes advanced anti-tank missiles.
“I’m very optimistic about the Greek drone industry,” said Zacharias Sarris, co-owner of Altus, which already exports ISR drones to five countries.
“Greece has a great need for this technology,” he added, referring to the country’s complex geopolitical position.
In the meantime, HAI is aiming high.
In 2026, it will start mass-producing two more portable anti-drone systems called Iperion and Telemachus, designed to protect troops from drone swarms and lethal mini-drones.
It will also present its first big unmanned aerial vehicle, Archytas, named after the ancient Greek inventor said to have produced the first autonomous flying machine in about 400 BC.
“We are striving for this UAV to be the best of its kind,” said Nikos Koklas, the company’s director of new products.
($1 = 0.8643 euros)
(With inputs from Reuters)
 Red Sea test.){kind=link}