Greece Confirms Fourth FDI Frigate from France as It Expands Hellenic Navy Combat Power.

Greece has finalized a contract for a fourth FDI HN frigate, strengthening a program that anchors the Hellenic Navy’s next generation of surface combatants. The move boosts Athens' capability in the Aegean and supports NATO maritime readiness at a time of rising regional competition.

According to information published by Naval Group, on November 17, 2025, Greece signed in Athens a contract for a fourth Defence and Intervention Frigate (FDI) for the Hellenic Navy, turning the long-standing option into a firm order and extending capability upgrades across the whole FDI HN fleet. The deal comes as first-of-class HS Kimon completes advanced sea trials ahead of delivery at the end of 2025.
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The FDI HN frigate pairs Sea Fire radar, Aster 30 air-defense missiles, Exocet anti-ship weapons and a full ASW suite to give the Hellenic Navy long-range air, surface and submarine warfare capability in a compact digital combatant (Picture source: Naval Group).

This latest ship closes the loop on a program launched under the 2021 Franco-Greek strategic pact, when Athens chose three FDI HN frigates with an option for a fourth, together worth roughly 3 billion euros. Contracts signed in March 2022 fixed deliveries of two ships in 2025 and a third in 2026, all now grouped under the Kimon class.

The FDI HN is a compact but high-end surface combatant of about 4,500 tons, 122 meters long and 18 meters wide, driven by a 32 megawatt CODAD propulsion plant to 27 knots, with a 5,000 nautical miles range and 45 days endurance. A core crew of around 125 sailors is supported by a highly automated, fully digital architecture built around Naval Group’s SETIS 3.0 combat management system.

The weapons fit for the Greek ships is among the most heavily armed in this displacement range. Up to 32 Aster 30 missiles in Sylver A50 vertical launchers give true area air defense, backed by a 21-cell RAM system for point defense against sea-skimming missiles and drones. Eight Exocet MM40 Block 3C anti-ship missiles, a 76 mm Super Rapid gun in a stealth cupola, two 20 mm remote stations, MU90 lightweight torpedoes and CANTO anti-torpedo decoys provide layered surface and subsurface firepower tailored to the crowded Aegean environment.

Sensor power is anchored by the Thales Sea Fire multi-function radar, a four-panel S-band AESA that delivers continuous 360-degree coverage, high-elevation tracking and fire control for both conventional and limited ballistic missile threats. It is coupled with the BlueGate IFF, an advanced EW suite and an integrated communications package that ties the frigate into NATO networks. Below the waterline, the Kingklip Mk2 hull sonar and CAPTAS-4 Compact towed array give the FDI HN a blue-water anti-submarine reach unusual for a 4,500-ton hull.

In operational terms, a quartet of FDIs allows the Hellenic Navy to maintain at least two ships on station in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean while sustaining contributions to NATO maritime groups. Each frigate brings its own air-defense bubble, long-range surface strike and deep ASW coverage, enabling Greek commanders to form compact surface action groups that can escort amphibious forces, protect sea lines of communication or provide high-end escort for logistics and coalition units.

Greece faces an assertive Turkish navy investing in TF-2000 air-defense destroyers, I-class frigates and new Reis-class submarines, all backed by an expanding inventory of indigenous anti-ship and cruise missiles. These capabilities sit atop a long-running Aegean and eastern Mediterranean sovereignty dispute that has produced air and naval confrontations for decades.

Athens has responded with a 12-year, €25 billion modernization plan that links naval recapitalization with airpower and an emerging multi-layered air and missile defense network known as Achilles Shield. FDIs are intended to cooperate with Rafale fighters, upgraded F-16Vs and future F-35s, sharing tracks and cueing Aster interceptors or Exocet salvos against cruise-missile carriers and hostile surface groups threatening Greek islands or offshore energy infrastructure.

Naval Group’s Hellenic Industrial Participation plan has already generated more than 120 contracts with about 70 Greek firms, including partnerships with ALTUS LSA on UAV integration and Hellenic Aerospace Industry on Centaur counter-UAS systems for the FDI platform. Additional framework contracts with companies such as FARAD, DIVING STATUS, MELITA and Petros Petropoulos anchor long-term support for HVAC, underwater inspection and propulsion components in Greece itself.

The fourth FDI arrives as part of a broader Greek effort to field a balanced fleet that mixes top-end digital frigates with upgraded Hydra-class MEKO 200s and prospective second-hand Italian Bergamini-class FREMMs, creating overlapping tiers of capability from high-intensity air defense down to presence missions.

By the late 2020s, Greece intends to patrol the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean with a networked force built around FDI frigates that can see farther, react faster and survive better than the aging Cold War designs they replace. In a region where geography compresses reaction times to minutes, the decision to exercise the fourth-ship option is not simply incremental procurement but a calculated move to lock in qualitative maritime superiority for the next generation.