Israel has agreed to sell $400 million worth of Spike anti-tank missiles to Greece, the Israeli Defense Ministry announced on Monday, just days after agreeing to a deal of a comparable scale to supply air defenses to Finland, a recently admitted NATO member.
The Spike is a guided anti-tank missile used by many EU and NATO countries produced by Israeli state-owned defense contractor Rafael.
Israel’s defense minister said the agreement reinforces ties between the countries.
Last week Israel and Rafael said they would provide the advanced air-defense system David’s Sling to Finland, after it officially joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
Finland will receive the defense system designed to intercept ballistic and cruise missiles in a $345 million (316 million euros) deal. It still requires approval from the United States, which is involved in the system’s development.
Finland’s membership, which ends seven decades of military non-alignment, approximately doubles the length of NATO’s border with Russia and strengthens NATO’s eastern flank as the war in Ukraine rages on with no end in sight. It also elicited a threat of retaliation from Moscow.
Finland said the agreement with Israel will greatly increase its capabilities, while Israel called it a “quantum leap” in bilateral defense cooperation.
