Greece has signed a letter of intent with the Netherlands to transfer Dutch warships to its navy, being the country's latest move in its drastically increasing arms purchases in recent years, a French-based military news outlet reported Saturday.
The letter of intent covers the possible transfer of two M-class frigates and six Alkmaar-class mine countermeasures vessels (MCMV) to the Greek navy from the Royal Netherlands Navy, the Naval News reported.
The letter of intent was signed on the sidelines of the NATO Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD) in Brussels on Wednesday by Aristeidis Alexopoulos, the general director of the Greek defense procurement agency (GDDIA), and Arie Jan de Waard, the director of the Dutch defense materiel organization (DMO).
The Greek navy already operates 13 frigates, including nine Dutch Kortenaer class vessels. This latest purchase comes on the back of Greece's recent order of three FDI class frigates from France in September.
Despite saying it has no intention of entering into an arms race with its neighbor and NATO ally Turkey, Greece has geared up its military purchases this year. The country recently signed multiple big-ticket arms deals with Israel for the purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and missiles, with France for the purchase of Rafael fighter jets, and with the United States for the update of its F-16s to the latest Viper configuration.
