by Natassa Stasinou

 

Greece's "Archytas project", for the development of UAVs is gaining track. Other similar projects for Greek drones are also making progress. The Minister of National Defense, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, informed the Parliament about the steps that have been taken. 

 

Specifically as he said:

 

–At the level of research and development, the Ministry of Defense actively supports and co-finances the Cyprus Transnational Integrated Research and Development Cooperation Program "LOTUS". This project with an implementation schedule of 45 months, aims to design and build a prototype, innovative, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for surveillance missions at tactical level. Its budget is 9,698,195 euros with 90.52% of the funding (8,779,380 euros) coming from the EU. 

 

–The Ministry of the Interior has declared support, together with France and Croatia, for the project "HYBRID", which recently started operating. The French company DELAIR is the coordinator of the consortium and Greek company ISD participates. With a 36-month implementation schedule, it aims to design and develop an innovative, long-range unmanned aerial vehicle, propelled by an electric hydrogen cell engine. The prototype UAV will be silent and will have the possibility of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL architecture) on a small surface. The budget of the program amounts to 3,356,586 euros, with 94.25% funding (3,163,714 euros) coming from the EU. 

 

–Finally, the "Archytas" program which is intended to strengthen the Armed Forces, is already in an advanced stage of detailed design. The first pre-industrial prototype is planned to be built within the current year, while the industrial production line coming into operation within the first quarter of the year 2024.