Ammunition deal brings EAS closer to survival

Greece’s troubled state-controlled Hellenic Defense Systems (EAS) received a boost Thursday when it signed an 18.5-million-euro agreement to supply 40mm ammunition for the Greek military’s Apache helicopters.

The deal gives EAS, which narrowly avoided closure last year, a good chance of meeting its 2014 target for a turnover of 40 million euros. In February EAS agreed a 12-million-euro deal with an American company.

After months of negotiations, Greece and the troika agreed in December that the company would be streamlined with some 500 workers remaining and around 350 being offered redundancy packages. Since then, Defense Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos has called for the country’s armed forces to support EAS.

It is expected that more deals similar to Thursday’s will follow. However, under the terms of the troika agreement EAS is also obliged to increase its exports to 20 million euros next year.