MINOAS-26 – Dendias: “The threat comes from a country 10 times bigger than us”, the Reserve is “the great equaliser”

Reservists and National Guardsmen in the field, together with unmanned systems in transport, reconnaissance and strike roles, were the picture of the Tactical Exercise With Troops (TAMS) “MINOAS-26” in Rethymno on Thursday, November 12, 2026. The exercise, organised by the 5th Airborne Brigade under the historic title “V Division of Cretans”, was attended by Minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias, in a field next to the Arkadi Monastery.

At his side were the Chief of the Army General Staff, Lieutenant General Georgios Kostidis, and Lieutenant General Dimitrios Vakentis, head of ASDAAM (the Supreme Military Command of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean). After the tactical scenario came a demonstration of the weapon systems the units used. The photographs released by the Minister’s office show wheeled armoured vehicles with infantry teams, attack helicopters over the field, a fighter aircraft passing overhead and a multicopter drone carrying a load hanging on a rope.

“That is where we must go, and that is where we are going”

In his address to the units, Mr Dendias began from what he had seen in the demonstration: “You saw before the Unmanned carrying medical supplies, the Unmanned carrying ammunition, the Unmanned making strikes, the Unmanned doing reconnaissance”. The role of drones, he said, “has been built into our planning”, adding: “That is where we must go, and that is where we are going”.

The line recurs constantly in the minister’s remarks. A few days earlier he had described an Air Force with 200 fighters and hundreds of drones, while in October 2025 he had set the goal of 1,000 drones a year for the Armed Forces.

From 800,000 “on paper” to 150,000 trained

The central message, however, concerned the Reserve. The minister recalled that until recently the country counted, “on paper, a huge Reserve of 800,000, supposedly”, and that the institution “had to be reformed”. The new target is “a National Guard and an Active Reserve of 150,000 trained Reservists”. What stood out in Crete, he said, was the progress in training this personnel and its cooperation with the serving Armed Forces.

He tied the need for the reform directly to the threat, without naming the country: “The threat comes from a country that is 10 times bigger than us”. That is why, he continued, an Active Reserve, a high level of training and constant exercising are required. Referring to the neighbouring monastery, he noted that “our Homeland is not in the ‘neighbourhood of angels’”, and closed with the phrase that sums up his philosophy: “The Reserve, therefore, like the Unmanned, is the great equaliser between the great threat and a trained and well-equipped deterrent force”.

Mr Dendias linked the picture of the exercise to “Agenda 2030”, saying the Armed Forces are approaching the objective of functioning as a deterrent force that protects sovereign rights and national sovereignty. He congratulated the Brigade Commander, Brigadier General Nikolaos Kostakis, the staff and the officers on the result.

Also present at the exercise were MP Giannis Kefalogiannis, the Archbishop of Crete Eugenios II, the Deputy Regional Governor of Rethymno Maria Lioni, the mayors of Rethymno, Anogeia and Amari, while from the Army Brigadier General (Ret.) Zacharias Koutrakis, head of the Integrated Air and Missile Defence Centre of Excellence, was present. After the exercise the minister was shown around the Arkadi Monastery by the Archbishop and the Abbot, Archimandrite Titos.