Cyprus to boost professional soldiers to 400 and modernize aging tank fleet
Cyprus will increase its number of professional soldiers from 250 to 400, Defense Minister Vasilis Palmas announced at a recent swearing-in ceremony in Larnaca. The minister also revealed plans to raise the mandatory retirement age for these soldiers from 42 to 57, alongside improvements in pay grades and monthly allowances.
In addition, Palmas confirmed a modernization program for the National Guard's AMX-30B2 tank fleet, which is several decades old. The upgrade, involving the installation of thermal cameras under a $25 million contract, aims to extend the service life of the tanks due to the lack of ready alternatives. However, details regarding the number of tanks to be upgraded and the duration of their continued use remain undisclosed.
A classified assessment reportedly recommended withdrawing the tanks entirely, but the government for now has opted to enhance their capabilities. The decision reflects ongoing efforts to modernize Cyprus’s defense forces amid evolving security challenges.
CYPRadar is a state-of-the-art, AI-powered Cyprus news aggregator that automatically crawls, filters, and translates local updates in real time. By continuously scanning a wide range of trusted Cypriot media outlets, blogs, and official RSS feeds, the platform identifies original stories and uses advanced language models to filter out duplicate coverage. The service then generates concise, objective summaries, ensuring that readers get a quick and clear understanding of every significant event without information overload.
The primary mission of CYPRadar is to provide comprehensive, multi-language coverage of Cyprus news to keep both residents and international visitors well-informed. The platform covers key events across all major cities and districts, including Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, Paphos, and Famagusta. By offering all updates simultaneously in five languages — English, Russian, Greek, Ukrainian, and Turkish — CYPRadar bridges communication gaps and ensures that everyone has equal access to critical local information, from policy changes to community events.
Track military exercises, defense policies, and national security news in Cyprus. Read about the National Guard activities, bilateral defense cooperation, military equipment updates, and regional security pacts.