Greece has reportedly withdrawn from NATO’s program to design, develop, and deliver a medium multi-role helicopter, it emerged recently.
In an interview with FlightGlobal, NATO’s program director Cyril Heckel indicated that one of the six original sponsors would not sign the updated memorandum of understanding (MoU) to extend the initiative into the design phase.
At the time of writing, there has been no comment from the Greek government regarding the decision, although military analysts say Athens could not support the cost involved. In addition, Greece is expected to receive 35 Black Hawk helicopters from the US.
NATO project for new helicopters and Greece
The Next Generation Rotorcraft Capability High Visibility Project (NGRC) creates a multinational framework under which its participants can combine efforts to work on design, development and delivery of a medium multi-role helicopter.
NATO says a significant amount of the medium multi-role assets currently in service by Allies, will reach the end of their life cycle in the 2035-40 period and beyond, with the subsequent need for replacements. These existing inventories are all based on designs dating back to the previous century.
The aim of the NGRC initiative is to respond to this upcoming requirement, in a timely and cost effective manner, while concurrently leveraging a broad range of recent advances in technology, production methods, and operational concepts, the Alliance adds.
NATO differentiates between three different classes of vertical lift – or generally known as helicopter – capabilities: light, medium, and heavy. The difference lies in the payload that can be carried. The NGRC concept phase will focus initially on medium multi-role capabilities.
Greece among NATO allies that launched the project
Following preliminary discussions about future requirements, Defence Ministers from France, Germany, Greece, Italy, and the United Kingdom, decided to launch the multinational NGRC initiative through the signature of a Letter of Intent in November 2020.
Following this agreement, the five Allies have started working on defining a robust Statement of Requirements for informing a concept phase, and a multiphase cooperation plan for defining, developing, and fielding of the NGRC capability.
In June 2022, the Ministers of Defence launched the Concept Stage of the Project through signature of a Memorandum of Understanding. At this occasion, The Netherlands also joined the project to bring to the total number of participants up to six.
In cooperation with industry, the participants will start from a clean sheet to explore how to match their needs with the latest technology on the market, looking at options such as hybrid and electric propulsion, a systematic open system architecture, and the delivery of radically improved flight characteristics. The nations selected the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) to execute the Concept Stage.
Greece to buy US-made Black Hawks
Greece signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) earlier in 2024 making official its intent to procure 35 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters built by Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, through an intergovernmental agreement with the US.
This transaction with Sikorsky was brokered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) in December 2023 and is prized at $1.95 billion (€1.78 billion).
“The latest generation UH-60M Black Hawk will support the Hellenic Ministry of Defense’s ongoing modernization and will serve as a dependable helicopter for vital national and allied security missions,” said Sikorsky president Paul Lemmo.
