Greece’s Iron Dome
We often talk of Israel as an example we should learn from in a number of areas. One of them, and an extremely important one, is defense.
In that context it is a welcome development that Athens has announced plans to develop a system similar to the Iron Dome, Israel’s missile defense system developed with US assistance, aimed at safeguarding the country against attacks from the air.
Discussing Israel’s successful operation of the Iron Dome to block Iran’s massive drone and missile attack, and at the same time drawing lessons from the conflict in Ukraine, Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias noted that “the nation must shield itself… we have concluded that it is imperative to construct an anti-aircraft and anti-drone dome.”
Greece has known for a long time the kind of threat it faces and should have gone down this road much earlier.
Better late than never. It took Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Iran’s attack on Israel to act as a wake-up call or a turning point, however one sees it. So be it.
Now Greece needs to move quickly and in a cross-party approach to ensure continuity in the creation and timely implementation of such a sophisticated system; a project that by its nature will prove expensive and time-consuming.
In so many issues the domestic political discourse often becomes toxic, but this is an existential dilemma for the country’s security and should not be part of any personal or party calculations. Whatever legitimate ambitions politicians of different ideologies have, on this issue there can not be a politics-as-usual approach. It’s too important and sensitive.
It should not be that difficult for the government, and more specifically the Ministry of Defense, to brief in depth and bring on board the leaders of the opposition parties, at least of the two main ones, on the need for long-term planning with the goal of developing a system such as the Iron Dome.
No one knows who will be in government after five or 10 years. What we do know is that the need for innovative self-defense will exist. And it will take a national effort, characterized by professionalism on the scientific and production levels, as well as consistence and continuity on the political one, to get to where we should be as soon as possible.
