Georgia signs a contract with France to purchase advanced air defense missile systems 11806151

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Defence & Security News - Georgia / France
 
Georgia signs a contract with France to purchase advanced air defense missile systems.
Georgia and France have finalized a blockbuster air defense deal that was the source of a major political crisis in Tbilisi last year, though many of the details of the deal and the crisis remain shrouded in mystery. Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli on June 15 signed an agreement with the company ThalesRaytheonSystems in Paris on the purchase of “advanced” air defense systems that will “guarantee country’s air defense,” Khidasheli said, according to Georgian news website.
     
Georgia and France have finalized a blockbuster air defense deal that was the source of a major political crisis in Tbilisi last year, though many of the details of the deal and the crisis remain shrouded in mystery. Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli on June 15 signed an agreement with the company ThalesRaytheonSystems in Paris on the purchase of “advanced” air defense systems that will “guarantee country’s air defense,” Khidasheli said, according to Georgian news website. Crotale Mk3 short-range air defense missile system
     
But that's about all that is known: the exact type of system, its price, or anything else is being kept secret. “I cannot speak about the details of the agreement we signed today. Information about such type of procurements, weapon should be top state secret, otherwise we can now continue our conversation in Russian and they will not even need to spend money on translation to learn information about this agreement,” Khidasheli told the Georgian state broadcaster.

Photos released by the Georgian Ministry of Defense in their announcement of the deal show the ThalesRaytheonSystems Ground Master 200 radar and Crotale missiles, manufactured by Thales Air Defense.

Khidasheli also said that another arms deal was being prepared with France and would be signed "in a few weeks."

The Ground Master 200 (GM200) is a multi-mission tactical 3-D medium range Air Defense radar. This mobile radar is dedicated to the protection of key assets and deployed forces. The GM 200 offers outstanding performance in terms of warning delay and tracking accuracy on high maneuvering targets.

The NG (Next Generation) version of the Crotale is an all-weather short-range air defence system developed by Thales Air Defense based at Bagneux in France.

The Crotale NG is equipped with a multi-sensor suite, including passive electro-optics and radar with built-in Electronic Counter Countermeasures (ECCM) to engage airborne targets under adverse conditions of dense electronic warfare and hostile battlefield environments of nuclear, biological and chemical warfare (NBC) and smoke and dust screens.

The Crotale NG missile has an effective range of about 11km and ceiling of over 6,000m.
     
Georgia and France have finalized a blockbuster air defense deal that was the source of a major political crisis in Tbilisi last year, though many of the details of the deal and the crisis remain shrouded in mystery. Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli on June 15 signed an agreement with the company ThalesRaytheonSystems in Paris on the purchase of “advanced” air defense systems that will “guarantee country’s air defense,” Khidasheli said, according to Georgian news website. Ground Master 200 (GM200) is a multi-mission tactical 3-D medium range Air Defense radar.