France to provide Armenia with air defence missiles Defence chief says/UPDATED

French Defence Minister Sebastian Lecornu has said that Paris will provide Yerevan with air defence missiles if Armenia needs them.

“About air defence... I’ll say about short-, medium- and other-range missiles: if... Armenia needs them, then these missiles will also be transferred to your disposal,” Lecornu said at a joint briefing with Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan, Caliber.Az reports.

“This morning we talked about Mistral short-range missiles,” Lecornu said at the briefing in Yerevan.

According to him, it is very easy to train personnel to use them.

“And we have already had discussions that will allow us to offer this level of protection. For second-level protection, we will offer medium-range means. But there is also a question of production. Soon there will be deliveries of GM 200 radars to Armenia. There are also more serious technologies, for example, Thalès radars.

Every time we talk about defensive weapons. The only way not to use air defences is to ensure that no one attacks anyone. This is a very important area for our cooperation. Our priority is to help Armenia protect civilians if they become victims of attack.

To the extent that we are developing our defensive base, this mirrors the opportunity for cooperation with Armenia. This will make it possible to very quickly offer new weapons,” Lecornu emphasized.

To recap, a delegation headed by French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu arrived in Yerevan on February 22 evening on an official visit.

Andranik Kocharyan, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on defence and security, did not rule out that more French-Armenian agreements could be signed as a result of their talks.