Agreement between Greece and Germany for a circular exchange only 40 armored combat vehicles (AFV) of the “Marder” type with an equal number of BMP-1s of the Greek army, which are being transferred to Ukraine, is fully operational, according to which sources in the Ministry of Defense told K.. So far, a total of 20 Greek BMP-1s have been delivered to Ukraine, and 14 Marders have entered service with the Greek armed forces, in particular, units in Thrace. The remaining 6 are expected by the end of January. Immediately after this, the circular exchange procedures for the remaining 20 will begin. At this stage, slight delays are expected in receiving Marder. The first to go to Ukraine will be the Greek BMP-1s, which, one way or another, were chosen for this mission, and then, with a slight delay, the Marders will follow from Germany to Greece.

The process is expected to be completed in the spring, with no final schedule yet. In any case, military links for coordination between Athens and Berlin on the issue of circular exchange are still active and will remain until the completion of the process.

National Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos and his German counterpart Christine Lambrecht spoke by phone on Monday evening about the implementation of the agreement between Athens and Berlin. Such clarifications are given by sources in the Ministry of National Defense after Berlin’s decision to send Marder-type TOMAs directly to Ukraine.

M-1117 on the islands

It is worth noting that already on the islands of the Eastern Aegean Sea, outdated East German BMP-1 BMP-1s of the TOMA type were replaced with more suitable American-made M-1117 wheeled vehicles, which the Armed Forces buy in the United States at the expense of the Pentagon’s surplus. material process and are a more suitable solution for reconnaissance missions. The received 14 marders have already been sent to units in Thrace, where they are considered more suitable for tasks there. And the remaining 26, which are expected to be received in the coming months, will be deployed in Thrace, since the main function of TOMA is the transport of infantry in support of operations that will be carried out in the event of war by main battle tanks. As you know, the vast majority of armored battle tanks of the Greek army are stationed in Thrace.