New assistance from European countries has been requested by Paris to protect the Olympic Games, especially from aerial threats and unmanned aircraft of the category of flying bombs (“kamikaze drones”).
In this context, the information says that the relevant request for SHORADS (Short Range Air Defense Systems) was forwarded to various European capitals, including Athens.
It is estimated that the French request in our case concerns the French-made CROTALE NG/GR which joined the PA in 2003 and is a mobile (towed, not self-propelled) caged short-range all-weather anti-aircraft system, which carries the search and lock-on radar, the FLIR electro-optical assistance system, the fire control system and the eight missiles ready to fire.
The pulse Doppler target search radar has a range of over 20 km, while the pulse Doppler target engagement radar has similar performance with the engagement process assisted (especially in an electronic countermeasures environment) by the thermal target engagement camera. The VT-1 missile has a speed of Mach 3.5, an engagement capability of 11 km at a distance and 6 km at an altitude.
The mission of CROTALE NG/GR is to provide anti-aircraft protection of tactical and strategic targets from air threats with the ability to deal with aircraft and missiles at low and medium altitudes.
From published data it is known that eleven systems have been acquired, nine of which are assigned to the Air Force and two to the Navy for sea level protection. They had low availability in the previous decade due to lack of a support program, but in May 2023 FOS agreements were signed for both the system and the missiles that required recertification/rebuild.
France is requesting the loan of air defense systems for a period of several weeks – the type and number of which has not been determined – to meet the protection needs of the Olympics, and it is believed that in addition to SHORADS it may also involve medium/long range systems .
It is noted that some French air defense missile systems, including medium-long range SAMP/T using Aster 15/30 and possibly two Crotale arrays, have been delivered to Ukraine and apparently the request is to fill the gaps.
Greece is one of two CROTALE NG users in Europe, outside France with the second country being Finland, which has 21 self-propelled systems known as ITO90M, on Sisu XA0181 armored vehicles.
It is emphasized that the air defense umbrella does not only cover Paris, where the games are held, but also other major cities as well as strategic infrastructure, including nuclear power plants.
Tags: French Greek antiaircraft missiles Olympics
