Lt Colonel Nektarios Papantoniou was born in Athens, Greece in 1981. He entered the Hellenic Military Academy in 1998 and graduated in 2002, as a 2nd Lieutenant with the Hellenic Armor Corps.

As a Junior Officer, he served in Armor and Reconnaissance Battalions, with various duties, such as Tank and Reconnaissance Companies’ Commander and a Battalion Operations and Information (S2 – S3) Officer. He also served as a weapon systems instructor with the Hellenic Armor School and as a Simulation Company Commander at the Hellenic Armor Simulation Center in Alexandroupolis.

As a Senior Officer, he served as a Staff Officer with the Armor Directorate, with responsibilities in areas such as weapon systems research, ammunition and simulation-based training. He also served as a Deputy Commander at the 23 Main Battle Tank Battalion in Litochoro Pierias. Since 2022 he has been serving as Military Intelligence and Security Officer (S2) at the XXI Armor Brigade in Komotini Rodopis, in northern Greece.

He has attended all the Armor Corps career schools. He is also a graduate of the United States Armor School BOLC III, in Fort Knox Kentucky. Additionally, he has attended various schools and trainings, both in Greece and abroad, such as the Advanced Joint Intelligence School in Athens and the Basic Modelling and Simulation Course at the NATO M&S CoE in Rome, Italy.

In 2020 he attended the Hellenic Army War College and between 2021 and 2022 the Supreme Joint War College.

He has often represented the Hellenic Army and the Armor Directorate in particular in various international conferences and events, while also serving as a national representative at the Combat Development LEOBEN Workgroup.

He holds a Master’s by Research (MRes) degree in Computational Fluid Dynamics from Cranfield University in the UK, with a specialty in hypersonic kinetic energy tank ammunition. At present, he is working on his thesis for an additional Master’s degree on Unmanned Autonomous and Remote-Controlled Systems from the University of Western Attica. His research interests include robotic systems, additive manufacturing, 3D modelling and simulation-based training.

He speaks English fluently and German moderately.
Lt Colonel Papantoniou has been awarded all the expected medals, decorations, and commendations for his rank.