Defense Minister Nikos Dendias will travel to France Friday to attend a ceremony for the raising of the Greek flag on the second of four new French-built frigates the country has ordered amid a major defense spending program.

A ministry statement Thursday said Dendias would also hold talks with his French counterpart Catherine Vautrin ahead of the ceremony in Lorient, western France, which will mark the formal incorporation of the Nearchos in the Hellenic Navy.

Following the ceremony, the vessel will be loaded with its full complement of armaments before setting off for Greece’s main naval base in Salamina, just off Athens.

Nearchos is the second of the four Kimon-class FDI frigates, the first of which arrived in Greece in January, that Athens is buying amid a multi-billion euro military procurement program to include warplanes, a new air defense umbrella and drones.

Thursday’s ministry statement said Dendias and Vautrin would discuss defense cooperation, regional and European security as well as “further deepening the two countries’ strategic relationship.”

A third French-made frigate, the Formion, is expected to arrive before year’s end. The last of the Kimon-class frigates, the Themistoklis, is due for delivery in 2028