On the last day of August, two tables were set at the same time. In Istanbul, the first high-level meeting was being held under the framework of the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, signed by Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan on Aug. 7. On the same day in Tel Aviv, Israeli Ministry of Defense Director-General Amir Baram and his Greek counterpart, Maj. Gen. Ioannis Bouras, signed the “Achilles Shield” contract.
Athens put the price tag at 3.035 billion euros ($3.51 billion). It is the largest defense export deal in Israeli history, reportedly surpassing even Germany. But one item in the package is particularly critical: the national command-and-control system to be built by Rafael. David’s Sling, Spyder, Barak MX and Elta radars are set to integrate Greece’s entire airspace into a single Israeli-designed architecture within 35 months.
In other words, Greece is not merely buying weapons from Israel. It is outsourcing the nervous system of its air sovereignty. Athens may have secured a 25% domestic production share and provisions for access to source code, but these do not alter the fundamental reality.
Nor is this a sudden decision. In 2021, Elbit took over the international flight training center in Kalamata for approximately two decades. In December 2025, the Greek Parliament approved the acquisition of 36 PULS rocket launchers, and a $750 million contract was signed in April 2026.
