Azerbaijan is preparing for a full-scale war
The visit of Sébastien Lecornu, the French Minister of Defense, to Armenia marks the first visit of a French Defense Minister to the South Caucasus amid rising tensions between Baku and Yerevan, and follows the recent meeting between Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, and Nikol Pashinyan, the Prime Minister of Armenia.
Lecornu is the first French Defense Minister in history and also the first European Defense Minister in the past decade to visit Armenia. During this visit, which took place on February 22, 2024, it was agreed that France would deliver a series of defense equipment to Armenia.
This equipment includes three mobile radar systems made by the defense company Thales, capable of detecting enemy aircraft up to a distance of 250 kilometers, as well as night vision goggles and binoculars made by the company Safran. It was also decided that the French army would conduct three mountain combat training courses for Armenian forces later this year.
The draft of this contract was signed on October 23, 2023, during the visit of Suren Papikyan, the Armenian Minister of Defense, to France.