Minister of National Defence, Nikos Dendias, visits Supreme Military Command of Thrace Area of Responsibility

September 3, 2026

On Thursday 3 September 2026, the Minister of National Defence, Nikos Dendias, visited Didymoteichon, Alexandroupolis, and Xanthi in the Area of Responsibility of the Supreme Military Command of Thrace.

In the beginning of his visit to Evros, Mr. Dendias had the opportunity to visit the Holy Metropolis of Didymoteichon, Orestias, and Soufli and meet with His Eminence, Metropolitan Damaskinos.

Afterwards, the Minister of National Defence visited the worksite of the Officers' Military Housing complex, in Didymoteichon, accompanied by the Chief of HAGS, Lieutenant General Georgios Kostidis and the Commanding General of the Supreme Military Command of Thrace, Lieutenant General Panagiotis Kavidopoulos. He was briefed by the Director of HAGS C Branch, Major General Dimitrios Kourkoulakos, on the progress of the implementation of the project regarding the construction of 24 new housing units for the personnel of the Armed Forces and their families, of which 12 are located in Didymoteichon and 12 in Orestias. Furthermore, he had the opportunity to witness the development and progress of the project up close, which has been completed to a percentage greater than 90% and will be delivered within the following month. The 24 new houses are part of the Housing Programme of the Ministry of National Defence, which concerns the construction of 17,484 modern houses across Greece, in order to cover the housing needs of the personnel of the Armed Forces and their families. The visit was attended by MP Anastasios Dimoschakis and the Mayor of Didymoteichon, Romilos Chatzigiannoglou.

Following his visit to the Didymoteichon Officers' Military Housing complex, Mr. Dendias stated the following:

"Today, here in Didymoteichon, I witnessed the progress of the construction of the new military housing units.

24 new residences, 12 of which here in Didymoteichon and 12 more in Orestias, are 90% complete and will be delivered to the personnel of the Armed Forces, Military Families that is, within the next month.

This is part of the new Housing Programme of the Ministry of National Defence, which, as you know, includes the construction of 10,500 new houses across Greece and the repair and use of an additional 7,000 older, renovated ones, leading to a total of 17,000 houses and the biggest Housing Programme in the history of the Hellenic state.

In Evros, and particularly here in Didymoteichon, we will be able to host 40% more Military Families than we momentarily can.

As you know, during its first implementation phase, this programme concerns remote regions and islands and is incorporated in the broader framework of care for Military Families. That means that it follows a policy that aims to support the personnel, the women and men of the Armed Forces, in their effort to have a better quality of life or create their own families, when it comes to younger personnel.

Our purpose is for the personnel of the Armed Forces to be able to enjoy the best quality of life possible, so that the State can offer them the quality of life they deserve, as recognition of their service to the Country".

Afterwards, the Minister of National Defence visited the Metropolitan Residence of the Holy Metropolis of Alexandroupolis, where he met with His Eminence the Metropolitan of Alexandroupolis Anthimos. Mr. Dendias extended his wishes to His Eminence on the occasion of his name day.

Subsequently, Mr. Dendias visited the 316^th Technical Corps District Workshop in Toxotes, Xanthi, where he was briefed on the development of unmanned drone production and the further enhancement of its production capabilities.

Immediately afterwards, the Minister of National Defence visited the 724^th Engineer Battalion, where one out of eight reinforced concrete element production units is operating, used for the construction of 522 new fortification projects for personnel and assets.

Following his visit to Xanthi, Mr. Dendias made the following statement:

"Today, in Xanthi, I had the pleasure to visit the 316^thTechnical Corps District Workshop, which produces Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

The 316^thTechnical Corps District Workshop along with the 306^thBase Plant in Attica have already provided the Armed Forces with the capability of producing about 5,000 drones per year, in order to cover their needs.

I would like to point out that on 31/12/2023, the Hellenic Armed Forces possessed just two Category III HERON drones, which were not utilised in simultaneous flights, as well as 252 industrial production drones. Allow me to say with all due respect: "Jumbo"-level drones.

As of now, the Armed Forces can produce 5,000 drones in order to cover their needs and upon completion of the 309^thMilitary Plant, which will be inaugurated in December, the Armed Forces will be able to produce 15,000 drones annually. This only concerns the production capabilities of the Armed Forces themselves, without factoring in the already developed capabilities of the Hellenic defence innovation ecosystem.

So, we are at a stage where the Armed Forces are rapidly transitioning into a new age. Drones provide us with surveillance, reconnaissance capabilities and the ability to launch offensives.

However, that is not enough. Defence is also in the picture. The need to protect our personnel from a country possessing similar assets and threatening Greece.

This is why I visited one of the eight Units here in Xanthi, which we have created in order to produce precast, interlocking blocks made of reinforced concrete and built exactly for the purpose of protecting our personnel.

At the moment, a project for the construction of 522 fortifications is in progress, which will be completed in full by 2030, in order to fortify and protect our personnel in addition to all the defence and dispersion positions, as well as the support positions of the infrastructure facilities of our Country.

The construction of those reinforced concrete blocks provides us with the capability to shorten the time required for the building of the particular fortification project by 20%. In addition, something even more significant is that it allows us to reduce the building cost of this fortification project by about 30%. We are estimating that on an annual basis, it saves 41 million Euro on projects that are necessary to be completed.

We can see how the "2030 Agenda" is developing in practice. On the one hand, it develops the drone producing capabilities of the Armed Forces, while on the other, it builds a defence infrastructure construction mechanism, which current times call for, while also allowing us to save vast amounts of money for Greek taxpaying citizens".