France has asked to borrow Greece’s Crotale short-range air defence missile system for the Paris Olympics. The request comes as France plans to provide air defence systems to Ukraine and wants allied help to provide air defence for critical infrastructure in Paris during the games, citing the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, on Thursday, the 25th of April, reports Politico.
Diplomatic talks on this request began in November, but no major developments have been reported so far.
“If our allies ask for specific assistance for a specific period of time – in this case the Olympic Games – which will in no way affect the country’s defence capabilities, this will be done, but certainly only after coordination and consultation between the two sides,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis was quoted as saying to reporters at a regular briefing on Thursday.
“But we are talking – and I want to stress this – about a limited specific period of time.”
This is the first news that France is seeking air defence equipment for the Olympics, in contrast to previous plans for a foreign police and military presence.
Although the French request is not directly related to Ukraine, it is seen as an indirect call for Athens to allocate part of its air defence capabilities to support Ukraine.
In a teleconference on Ukraine assistance scheduled for Friday, the US is expected to put additional pressure on Athens in view of Greece’s reluctance to provide military assistance to Ukraine during the Defence Contact Group.
At a summit in Brussels last week, European leaders urged Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to provide air defence systems to Ukraine, citing a Financial Times report, reports Politico.
Marinakis told a press briefing on Monday that material assistance had already been provided to Ukraine, stressing that
no action would be taken that could jeopardise Greece’s deterrent capabilities or air defence.
The Crotale air defence system, currently under discussion for transfer to France during the Paris Olympics, is a French-made system that was integrated into the Greek air force in 2003. With a firing range of 11-20 km and a maximum altitude of six kilometres, it is considered “ideal” for its intended target.
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