Optimistic that Greece will succeed in creating an ecosystem of defense industries, “which will be able to produce innovative products that meet the existing and recorded needs of the Greek Armed Forces”, said the Minister of National Defense, Nikos Dendias, in an interview he granted to “Economic Postman” at the exhibition BEYOND 2024, in Thessaloniki.
As he said, a new framework will be created, the Hellenic Center for Defense Innovation, which will take the needs of the Armed Forces and announce them to this ecosystem. Priority, he pointed out, will be given to the creation of two domes, an anti-aircraft and an anti-drone dome, for which the sum of 2 billion euros has been committed.
Mr. Dendias emphasized that our defense ecosystem contributes to the GDP the negligible, as he characterized it, 0.74% and added that Greece buys equipment from abroad “to be able to maintain our independence, our territorial integrity, and to do this we must at least be in a phase that allows us to respond to the challenges of our environment”.
“As you know, Greece – I always say – is not Luxembourg, not all our friends are next door, they don’t throw carnations at us. You look at the shipbuilding program of, for example, our neighbor Turkey. Look at our neighbor Turkey’s drone program. We must have a reasonable response to them. I’m not saying let’s get into a competition of who will be first. We want to defend ourselves, but to be able to have a deterrent option,” he said.
Responding to a related question, Mr. Dendias said that technologies and capabilities were found in the ODA that, if developed, will surprise us all, but he added that there was a complete lack of connection with the Greek armed forces and the defense ecosystem.
He described the Constellation program, which we are co-designing with the USA, as a huge opportunity, which provides for the production of frigates in Greek shipyards and service for ships in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. “Well, we are talking about a job that will take 60-70 years in our shipyards”, he added.
Finally, when asked about Central Macedonia, for which the prime minister appointed him coordinator, he underlined that “there is a current of populism, which mainly comes from the right, and which threatens all the parties that follow the path of European integration ».
“We have to fight here to overturn what polls don’t make sense to tell you about, but I’ve seen the measurements, you’ve seen them too, we have to try a little. I wouldn’t be here otherwise. Well, I hope, I always hope for the strength of the argument. I understand that we are starting from a point that is not the best, but we also have positives. I saw the governor before, a 70% governor. We have forces in the Local Government. So I think we’ll be fine. But it takes effort,” he emphasized.
With information from APE
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Grave robbers have been talked about in Ampanotokana. Three cellars were broken into in the village of Miadamponina, Ambohidratrimo, and nearly fifty bodies vandalized. The looting was noted at the end of the week; However, nearby residents believe the act was committed a little earlier. The vaults, although made of stone and apparently well secured, were targeted. The looters managed to gain access by means that are puzzling. Apparently, they were equipped with powerful tools of force such as crowbars and the like. The burglaries took place at night.
At dawn, passers-by who had taken a path crossing the necropolis noticed signs of a break-in. They then notified the gendarmerie forces. During the inspection, it turned out that only two bodies remained intact. All the others were robbed by the thieves who tore off the long bones. An investigation is opened; However, the criminals managed to disappear into the wild without leaving a trace.
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This week, construction began on a high-speed rail line that will connect the gambling mecca of Las Vegas with the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
This will be the first real bullet train in the United States, announced the company “Brightline West” (Brightline West), which implemented the project, estimated at 12 billion dollars.
A bullet train for the Olympics in Los Angeles
The electric high-speed train is expected to carry its first passengers in 2028, when Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics.
“For decades, people in America have dreamed of real high-speed rail. Now it’s really happening,” said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
This happened during the ceremony for the groundbreaking of the construction of a rail terminal in Las Vegas for the Arrow trains. The facility will be located south of the famous Las Vegas Strip.
“Brightline West” plans to build a railway line with a length of 351 kilometers. It will run almost entirely along Interstate I-15 and connect Las Vegas (Nevada) with Rancho Cucamonga in California. This city is located about 65 kilometers from central Los Angeles and is connected to the metropolis by an express train of the “Intercity” type.
It is planned to build a station on the high-speed rail line and in the area of the city of Victorville. It is located in San Bernardino County, California.
At over 300 km/h across the desert
Representatives of “Brightline West” announced that their goal is for the new high-speed train to travel at over 300 km/h. This speed is comparable to that of the Japanese Shinkansen bullet train.
The company says the high-speed trains will shorten the four-hour trip across the Mojave Desert. They will cover the distance between the terminal in Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga outside Los Angeles in approximately 2 hours.
The same distance can be traveled by car on the highway in just over 3 hours, but if there are no traffic jams. And they are very typical at the end of weekends, when many people return home from the mecca of gambling after having fun in Sin City, notes CBS.
Annually, about 16 million people travel from Las Vegas to Southern California on the I-15 highway through the Mojave Desert, according to The Hill.
Brightline West estimates that the high-speed rail could reduce the number of car and bus journeys by 3 million a year. This will have a positive environmental effect for the region, as the harmful emissions released by the movement of motor vehicles will be reduced, and the new high-speed trains will be powered by electricity. It is predicted that the number of people traveling with them, and that only in one direction, will reach about 11 million people a year.
“I believe that in time we will look back on current events and say, ‘That’s when the foundations of the high-speed rail business were laid,’” said Brightline West founder Wes Edens, quoted from the Associated Press.
The billionaire notes that the price of tickets for the new high-speed trains will be comparable to that of flights.
A project worth billions
Brightline West’s goal is to connect with high-speed trains American cities that are too close together to travel between them by plane, but not so close that transportation by car or bus is convenient.
The company enjoys the support of the administration of US President Joe Biden for the implementation of the project for the high-speed rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area, estimated at 12 billion dollars, according to the AP.
Brightline West received a $3 billion grant from the US Federal Infrastructure Development Fund.
In addition, the company was recently granted permission to raise $2.5 billion in project financing through the issuance of tax-exempt bonds.
In 2020, US federal authorities allowed Brightline West to issue and sell $1 billion worth of such bonds.
According to BTA
https://www.worldysnews.com/a-12-billion-bullet-train-will-connect-las-vegas-and-los-angeles-2024-05-06-091616/
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