Armor, islands and “dragons” – What we have, what we give and what we take from the Germans

By Giannis Paliouras

A storm of political reactions has erupted in recent days – accompanied by a volcanic reaction on social media – on the occasion of the decision of the Greek Government to receive German MARDER 1A3 type armored combat vehicles (TOMA) and in exchange to release to Ukraine a corresponding number of Soviet-made BMP-1 vehicles.

We have seen accusations of the loss of super-critical weapons systems, cries of betrayal, accusations of disarming our islands at the behest of dark centers, incompatibility with the Greek Army support system, and even accusations of bribes for an agreement where no monetary compensation is provided. (!!!).

So let’s see what we have, what we give and what we get:

BMP-1

In our country, a total of 501 vehicles were provided from the reserves of the East German army in the 90’s. It was admittedly a solution of necessity until the supply of modern armor for the needs of the Army.

From the beginning, they were plagued by availability problems, while its antiquity and design weaknesses, forced the General Staff to place them in units on the islands as it was impossible to cope with a possible maneuver war on the front of Evros, for example.

The theoretical advantage of its 73 mm low pressure gun turned out to be a disadvantage as it was found that its missiles were vulnerable to crosswinds – in simple Greek when it was blown, the missile was blown away by the wind!

So when the BMP-1 ammunition ran out, they simply did not buy new ones. For almost 20 years, the Army has NOT even fired at these armored vehicles.

Weighing just 13 tonnes, it is considered lightly armored and indicative of the soldiers’ confidence in the protection it offers. a single anti-tank shot can burn all 11 occupants (3 crew members and 8 infantry).

It is therefore no coincidence that the Soviets replaced it with the BMP-2, then with the BMP-3, which in turn will be replaced by the Kurganets-25 that will follow the design concept of the respective Western vehicles.

Marder-1A3

Although he enlisted in the German Army in the early 1970s, it is no exaggeration to say that even now, almost all armor of the same category produced or developed worldwide is based on the design principles of MARDER!

For this reason, the Germans, instead of replacing it, preferred to implement successive upgrade programs, while only in recent years, its successor named PUMA began to enter service, which will not completely replace the MARDERs but will coexist with them for at least one decade.

It has a crew of 3 and carries 6 infantry. Its main weapon is a 20 mm remote-controlled cannon known to the Greek Armed Forces as hundreds are used in anti-aircraft role. In fact, EAS (Hellenic Defense Systems) produces domestically both the ammunition and the barrel of this cannon, while there is already a stock of hundreds of thousands of such missiles in the warehouses of the ES.

Its weight is 33 tons with its armor corresponding to that of the Leopard 1 tank. In fact, with this tank – of which the Greek Army is the largest user in the world keeping about 500 in service – the MARDER has many common subsystems, which is expected to greatly facilitate its maintenance.

“Disarmament” of the islands and other fairy tales

About 100 BMP-1s to be transported to Ukraine are expected to be removed from ASDEN units in the Aegean islands. This event was the occasion for the outbreak of a paraphilology about the disarmament of the Greek islands.

But is that so? Absolutely not!

BMP-1 armored vehicles have been devalued for years and their contribution to the defense of the islands is now symbolic. Although the MARDERs are expected to join motorized formations in Evros, it is a given that the existing German armored personnel carriers to be replaced will be in surplus and therefore sent to the islands to avoid gaps.

The old American-made armor (the evergreen M-113, known to those who served as “ducklings”) that will go to the Aegean islands, are certainly not the highlight of technology but have a significant advantage over BMP-1… They work!

Υ.Γ. In 2018, 100 BMP-1s were granted to Egypt by decision of the Greek Government. There was no replacement material, they just went by ferry, picked them up from the island units and we never saw them again.

What exactly were the reactions then? Weren’t 2018 absolutely necessary weapons for the country’s defense?