Strong US presence at DEFEA

A total of} 32 American defense industry firms will be exhibiting in the USA Pavilion at Defense Exhibition Athens (DEFEA) 2021, an international defense and security exhibition which opens on Tuesday at the Metropolitan Expo Center next to Athens International Airport. The fair, among the first to take place in Greece after the lockdowns, will conclude on Thursday.

The USA Pavilion is organized by the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce with the support of the US Embassy.

According to an announcement by the chamber, the exhibits will include a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, an AH-64E Apache helicopter and three vehicles: a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), an M1117 Armored Security Vehicle (ASV) and a Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) cargo truck (M1078). In addition, within the area of the airport, a Beechcraft King Air 350ER aircraft (with full airborne surveillance capabilities) and a Cessna Citation Latitude (number one best-selling midsize jet) will be on display.

The USA Pavilion will be inaugurated at 1 p.m. on Tuesday in Hall 4 of the Metropolitan Expo Center, with the participation of US Ambassador in Athens Geoffrey Pyatt, Heidi Grant, director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, and the president of the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, Nikolaos Bakatselos. National Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos has also been invited to attend the opening.

The pavilion’s program includes a reception on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, to be addressed by Pyatt, Grant and Bakatselos and attended by Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Defense Exports and Cooperation Elizabeth Wilson, Major General Joe Jarrard, the deputy commanding general for Army National Guard, exhibitors at the USA Pavilion, representatives of the armed forces in Greece and the Greek government.

There will also be a program of parallel events, including panel discussions on defense and security issues at the ministerial level, special workshops on the prospects of the Greek defense industry and a workshop on promoting the competitive European defense technological and industrial base in the framework of EU defense initiatives.

Production of vaccination certificate or a negative PCR or rapid test is necessary.