Greece and Israel signed a roughly €3 billion agreement in Tel Aviv on Monday to build "Achilles Shield," a multilayered air and missile defence network that Israel's Defence Ministry called the largest defence export contract in the history of bilateral relations and one of the largest Israel has ever concluded.
The contract was signed at the ministry's Tel Aviv headquarters by its director general, Maj. Gen. (res.) Amir Baram, and his Greek counterpart, Ioannis Bouras. It covers Rafael's David's Sling, Israel Aerospace Industries' Barak MX, Rafael's short-range Spyder, ELTA multi-mission radars and a national command-and-control layer built by Rafael. A separate €26 million contract adds Drone Dome counter-UAV systems. Greek firms take about a quarter of the work — some €700 million across twelve companies — and Athens secured source-code transfer. The programme runs on a 35-month timetable inside a €28 billion modernisation plan extending to 2036.
Defence Minister Nikos Dendias said technological change had made existing defence doctrines obsolete, and that Greece is the first EU state to adopt such an architecture.
Turkish coverage split along familiar editorial lines. Takvim presented the signing as a fresh anti-Turkish move, labelling Israel a terrorist state and the contract a step toward a military bloc aimed at Ankara. Yeni Şafak was harsher still, describing the arrangement as a "dirty alliance" in the Eastern Mediterranean. Milliyet, Hürriyet and Anadolu Agency ran the Israeli ministry statement without polemic — though Hürriyet emphasised that the shield will tie the Greek military technologically to Israel, and noted that Greek opposition parties have held up Turkey's domestic defence industry as the model Athens should have followed.
Hürriyet and Aydınlık both flagged the timing. The signature fell on the day the Strategic Political and Defence Committee established under the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement convened for the first time in Istanbul, bringing together Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Commentary went further. Baran Dergisi framed the shield as a challenge to the Blue Homeland doctrine and to Turkish operational freedom over the Aegean, warning that Israeli counter-drone layers could erode the edge Turkish UAVs now hold. An earlier SETA assessment identified dependence as the programme's central flaw: swapping Russian S-300s for Israeli systems, it argued, leaves Greek air defence at Tel Aviv's discretion.
Ankara issued no formal response. A Defence Ministry letter to parliament reported last week said Turkey is monitoring Greek activity in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean and is planning for scenarios ranging from crisis to war.