France to sell Ground Master 200, Safran binoculars, Mistral air  defense systems to Armenia 

ArmInfo.In the framework of the working visit to the French Republic, the Minister of Defence  Suren Papikyan had meetings with the Chairman of the Commission on National Defence and Armed Forces of the National Assembly of the French Republic Thomas Gassilloud and the Chairman of the Committee  of Foreign Affairs Jean-Louis Bourlanges.

Issues related to Armenian-French bilateral defence cooperation and  regional security were discussed.

The Minister of Defence expressed his gratitude to the French  parliamentarians for supporting the development of cooperation and  pro-Armenian activities on national and European platforms.

During the day, Minister Papikyan visited the "Les Invalides"  military rehabilitation and disabled veterans support center and got  acquainted with the center's activities.

Following the meeting between the Armenian and French defense  ministers, the Politico posted an article titled "France sends  weapons to Armenia amid fears of new conflict with Azerbaijan."

The article reads: 

"France is selling military equipment such as air defense systems to  Armenia, the French government said Monday, as fears grow that  Azerbaijan could follow up its seizure of Nagorno-Karabakh last month  with assaults on its neighbor's territory.

"The announcement on French arms comes just a month after Azerbaijan  declared victory following a lightning military offensive in  Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians living  in the breakaway region to flee their homes.

"The concern - as raised by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken -  is that may not be the end of Azerbaijan's regional ambitions, and  all eyes are now on the Zangezur corridor, a tract of land running  along Armenia's border with Iran. The danger is that another move by  Baku's forces could inflame a broader conflict in the Southern  Caucasus - an area where Turkey, Russia and Iran all have core  strategic interests.

"France, the country with Europe's largest Armenian diaspora  community, made clear it was not going to sit on the sidelines.

"Even if we are not part of the same military and political  alliances, we assume this defense relationship, which is based on the  simple principle that you need to be able to defend yourself and your  civilian population," French Armed Forces Minister S‚bastien Lecornu  told his Armenian counterpart Suren Papikyan at a press conference.

"Increasing political support from the West comes as Armenia works to  distance itself from Russia. Despite being a member of the Moscow-led  CSTO military bloc, the country's calls for help from Russian  President Vladimir Putin in the conflict against Azerbaijan have  fallen on deaf ears, and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told POLITICO  last month that it was time to stop relying on Russia for protection.

"Paris started stepping up defense cooperation with Yerevan in  September last year, but Azerbaijan's offensive has accelerated  France's willingness to deepen military ties. Last month, France  dispatched a military attach‚ to the French embassy in the Armenian  capital.

"On Monday, Armenia signed a contract to buy three Ground Master 200  radars manufactured by Thales - the same as delivered to Ukraine to  fend off Russia's aggression - and another one with Safran for  equipment including binoculars and sensors. Armenia and France also  signed a letter of intent to kick off a process to purchase Mistral  air defense systems made by MBDA.

"In the coming months, the French government will send a French  military official to act as a defense consultant for the Armenian  executive branch on issues such as armed forces training, Lecornu  said. France will also train Armenian soldiers and help Yerevan audit  Armenia's air defense to identify blind spots.

"'As often in the difficult times of the Armenian people, in this  complex political and military situation, France and the French  people are at our side, and for that I thank you infinitely,'"  Papikyan said.

Defensive weaponry

"The meeting between the French and Armenian defense ministers comes  on the same day as Azerbaijan kicked off major military exercises in  Nagorno-Karabakh and close to the border with Iran, training  alongside troops from its close ally, Turkey.

"At the same time, Russian, Turkish and Iranian foreign ministers met  with their Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts in Tehran for talks  on avoiding a renewed conflict. According to Iran's state news  agency, the format was designed to avoid "the interference of  non-regional and Western countries."

"There are fears in Armenia that Azerbaijan could push across the  internationally recognized border and seize the southern region of  Syunik, which Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has previously said  should host a "corridor" connecting his country to its exclave of  Nakhchivan, which is split from the rest of Azerbaijan by Armenian  territory.

"Weeks after Azerbaijan's attack on Nagorno-Karabakh, Blinken  informed U.S. lawmakers that Washington was tracking the possibility  of a full-blown invasion of Armenia. Azerbaijan denies it has any  such plans.

"The fact Armenia is investing so much of the budget into defense and  defense procurement shows how seriously it's taking the threats -  over a year it has virtually doubled," said Leonid Nersisyan, a  defense analyst with Armenia's Applied Policy Research Institute. "In  2022, the spending was around $700-$800 million, and now in 2024 it's  going to be $1.4 or $1.5 billion. There's already a billion dollars  of defense contracts with India, and there could be hundreds of  millions of dollars with France too."

Earlier this month, Aliyev accused Paris of inflaming tensions, using  a call with European Council President Charles Michel to warn that  "the provision of weapons by France to Armenia was an approach that  was not serving peace, but one intended to inflate a new conflict."

Aliyev and senior Azerbaijani officials have repeatedly accused  France of "neocolonialism," while Baku has even established a working  group tasked with "the complete elimination" of what it slams as  France's imperial ambitions.

On Monday, Lecornu pushed back against accusations that French  weapons could be used to start a war.  "Good luck explaining that the  weapons [we're selling] have an aggressive version. These are weapons  systems which, by their very nature, can only be deployed in the  event of aggression on Armenian territory," he said.

"No one can blame a sovereign state for protecting its skies and the  population living underneath," he added.