At the end of a long corridor, behind a red door dating back to the 1980s, men in white lab coats lean over workbenches and magnifying lenses, working intently with electronic circuit boards, chips, and wires.
The roughly 20 employees – electrical engineers and technicians – hold in their hands parts of the “brain” of Centaurus, the Greek drone-detection and countermeasure system developed at the factory of the Hellenic Aerospace Industry (EAB or HAI). In the coming months, it is expected to strengthen the air defenses of Greece, Cyprus, and Israel.
The first success
Centaurus first drew widespread attention in 2024 when, during the European operation “Aspides” in the Red Sea, it detected and brought down two unmanned aircraft launched by the Houthis. The success immediately attracted interest from countries across Europe and the Middle East. A month ago it was announced that the anti-drone system had been integrated into Israel’s Barak MX air-defense system, while the most recent development is Nicosia’s intention to procure four such systems.
Kathimerini visited the laboratories of the Hellenic Aerospace Industry in Schimatari, north of Athens, where Centaurus is manufactured, and met the people behind the project.
Kyriakos Enotiadis, director of electronics at HAI and the mastermind behind Centaurus, is one of them. Entering the laboratory, he sits at the assemblers’ worktables and spreads four sheets of paper in front of me. They map out the entire production line as it will expand in the coming months to meet growing demand. HAI must deliver 76 Centaurus systems to the Greek Armed Forces and another four to the Cypriot military.
“By the end of April, after Easter, all these chairs will be filled with employees,” he says.
The software engineer had anticipated the need for a system capable of countering drones even before the war in Ukraine broke out.
“We needed a system that could deal with the Bayraktar drones used by the Turkish army,” he explains.
With a very small team, he designed the development of drone-detection and countermeasure systems and, with the help of HAI’s experienced staff, moved on to their construction. As he notes, HAI had worked on radar systems many years earlier and already possessed the necessary expertise. When the need emerged, the team was ready, having developed three anti-drone systems in total: Centaurus, Hyperion, and Telemachus. When operated together, they create an effective shield against hostile drones.
“It was a fortunate coincidence that HAI had developed Centaurus, a very good and highly effective anti-drone system,” Alexandros Diakopoulos, executive chairman and CEO of HAI and a retired vice admiral, told Kathimerini, noting that the company has built strong momentum in the electronics sector. “At the moment, and because of developments in the war in Iran, we are suddenly seeing very strong interest in this system from many countries in our region as well as from European states.”
Centaurus first gained attention in 2024 during the European ‘Aspides’ mission in the Red Sea, when it brought down two Houthi drones
Every millimeter
The construction of the successful anti-drone system takes place entirely at the facilities of the HAI, although Diakopoulos leaves open the possibility of cooperating with subcontractors. For now, the individual components of Centaurus are manufactured, assembled and tested in the company’s machine shops, workshops and laboratories – by both machines and human hands. Once completed, the system is mounted on specialized military vehicles. Its operation is then tested at a testing range located within the industrial complex itself.
Every stage of production requires precision, experience and meticulous attention to detail, and everyone involved plays a crucial role.
“You can’t lose focus. A mistake here is serious. You need attention, willingness to work and consistency,” says Theodoros Chasiotis.
Although he heads the department, the 57-year-old remains involved in every step of the process. When we met him, he was cutting and shaping cables. Nearby, another technician – with 34 years of experience – was checking millimeter by millimeter whether the soldering and assembly on the electronic boards had been carried out correctly. When I ask how he feels that many people are not even aware of the Hellenic Aerospace Industry, he reveals that his brother-in-law asks him every year: “Why haven’t they shut you down yet?”
“They don’t know what’s going on here. We work to military specifications – Class 3. Class 3 means perfection. There’s no failure here. Even the floor you’re standing on right now is antistatic,” he says.
The team brings together people of different specialties and ages. Xenophon, at 32, is among the younger members.
“There’s an explosion of work,” he says, explaining that this pushes him to constantly improve his skills. Barely lifting his head from the colorful circuit board he is working on, he adds that his job essentially requires him to keep pace with technological developments – which, in the drone sector, are rapid and sweeping. The only drawback, he notes, is the very low salaries, as employees at HAI are paid under the unified public-sector pay scale.
Low wages make it difficult for the company to attract highly specialized and experienced staff. Combined with the risk of losing the so-called meritorious long-service bonus – which had functioned as a lump-sum payment upon retirement – this led to protests and a prolonged strike a few weeks ago.
“HAI is a public company, with its pros and cons,” Diakopoulos says. “The advantage is relative job security. The disadvantage is that we cannot offer competitive salaries.”
He adds, however, that efforts are underway – likely to take the form of a legislative initiative – to introduce salary increases through performance-based bonuses, as well as higher allowances.
The first major salary cuts at the company took place during the financial crisis.
“In my view, HAI was treated somewhat harshly during the bailout years. A company that once had a workforce of 3,800 people suddenly found itself employing fewer than a thousand,” he notes.
Enotiadis lived through those difficult years and was among the few who chose to stay. When I ask him why, he answers jokingly with a story: “I was born at HAI, and that’s why I won’t leave. My father built this building – that was his job. I was 13 at the time, and during the first two summers I worked with him. My first social security stamps were earned here.”
The 60-year-old director is an intriguing mix: a traditional figure with classic attire and habits from the analog era. He still sketches designs first with a pen in his notebook and prefers plans printed on paper. In a way, the man and the company seem perfectly aligned. That, too, is what HAI is like: Behind the doors of buildings that evoke the Cold War era, and among small icons of saints, cutting-edge technology is being produced.