Armenia procures equipment from France in bid to strengthen defences

Armenia has ordered three GM200 tactical, medium-range air-defence radars from Thales. (Thales)

Armenia is acquiring three tactical, medium-range air-defence radars from Thales and night-vision binoculars from Safran in a bid to strengthen its capabilities and territorial integrity.

The deal, announced on 23 October and signed between Armenian Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan and his French counterpart, Sébastien Lecornu, involves the supply of Thales Ground Master 200 (GM200) tactical air-defence radars.

The French Armed Forces were unable to respond to Janes at the time of publication regarding the contract and delivery timeframes.

Along with this contract, France will help to support the modernisation of the Armenian Army through enhanced training and co-operation. A letter of intent was also signed to encourage greater co-operation in the field of air defence and will involve, among other activities, auditing Armenia's ground-based air-defence capabilities.

The GM200 is part of a family of GM S-band (2–4 GHz) 3D air surveillance radars developed by Thales. The GM200 has the capability to detect, identify, and track threats such as aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and cruise missiles at very low and high altitudes. It also has a counter-rocket, artillery, and mortar (C-RAM) mode enabling detection, warning, and fire data computation (impact and launch points), and can provide air-defence weapon co-ordination for very-short-range air-defence (VSHORAD) and SHORAD systems.

Two operational modes are available – a surveillance feature for long-range missions (up to 250 km) and a shorter-range engagement mode (up to 100 km).