On June 15, in Paris, Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan met with representatives of the French companies “KNDS” and “Airbus” and discussed a number of issues related to the course of cooperation.

It should be noted that in June 2024, a military-technical cooperation agreement was signed between the RA Ministry of Defense and the French military-industrial company KNDS in France, according to which Armenia acquired CAESAR self-propelled artillery stations from France.

In May of this year, during the visit of French President Macron to Armenia, it became known that the RA Defense Department signed a contract for the supply of transport helicopters with the Airbus helicopters company.

And these days, in order to participate in the international exhibition “Eurosatory 2026”, not only the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, but also the Ministry of High Technology went to France, in the context of which the leading French company “Thales” and the Armenian defense technology company “BooTech” announced the launch of an industrial partnership aimed at deepening strategic cooperation and strengthening regional security.

Under the agreement, BooTech will act as an industrial partner in combat management systems, digital infrastructure, cyber security and related areas. In other words, Thales will share its production experience and technologies, and BooTech will focus its efforts on system integration and network solutions.

“Thales Group” company is engaged in the design and construction of electrical systems, provides services in the aviation-space, defense, transport and security markets.

BooTech is an Armenian company that provides advanced C2/C4ISR digital solutions, integrating existing and next-generation systems into networked battlefield management platforms.

It is worth reminding here that the foundations of cooperation with the leading French and European technology company “THALES” were laid back in September 2018, when Armenian President Armen Sarkissian had meetings with the leadership of “Thales Group” during his visit to France, and in November 2018 he visited the company’s digital workshop and got acquainted with the activities and current programs, discussed issues related to possible directions of cooperation with Armenian companies.

Already in June 2019, Armen Sarkissian visited the “Thales Group” booth and met with the president of the company, Patrice Kane, as part of the Paris International Aviation Exhibition held in Le Bourget.

An agreement was reached here to organize the visit of representatives of “Thales Group” to Armenia, as well as to create working groups for the purpose of studying the already prepared relevant document on specific directions of cooperation.

In particular, cooperation and implementation of joint programs in the fields of artificial intelligence, digital data management and a number of other fields were considered promising.

And in September 2019, it was Armenia arrived the delegation of the technological leader company “Thales Group”. In other words, they thought about cooperation with this French company much earlier, and the former president of RA has a concrete role here, this must be said, however much we have reservations regarding various issues related to him, including the 44-day period and the period after that.

This does not at all belittle the negotiations of Defense Minister Suren Papikyan regarding cooperation with this company.

In 2023, the Defense Ministers of Armenia and France signed a deal in France regarding the sale of Thales GM 200 3 radars, of which, according to various reports, France also supplied Ukraine. According to our information, those radars were supplied to Armenia.

By the way, in 2025 we wrote, that the company supplying French radars to Armenia has joined NATO’s air defense program.

That is, the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) had signed an agreement not only with ASELSAN, Lockheed Martin UK, Raytheon, but also Airbus and «with Thales which is in the logic of the development process of the modular air defense system concept.

And Azerbaijan has been with the French company “Thales” for a long time համագործակցում՝ approximately from 2013-2014. Even in 2018 information it was circulated that it is possible to establish a production of “Thales” products in Azerbaijan. In 2023, there were news that “Thales” in Azerbaijan representation opens, here it was, of course, about cooperation in the direction of modernization of railway infrastructure in the “East-West” and “North-South” international transport “corridors”, because, as we mentioned above, “Thales Group” also provides services in the transport sector.

But this did not stop the Azerbaijani propaganda machine from seeing risks in the context of Armenia-France defense cooperation, including “Thales Group”-“BooTech”. In particular, Baku TV video analysis presented, where he states:

“As Thales is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of radar systems, airspace surveillance, control systems, communications, radio electronic warfare (EW) and cyber security, this partnership indicates Armenia’s desire to develop its own defense industry and technology base.” This cooperation can strengthen Armenia’s capabilities in the areas of airspace control, border protection, anti-UAV combat and artillery coordination.

In the conditions when the peace agreement is not yet signed and the environment of trust is not fully formed, the strengthening or increase of the military-technical potential can create new security risks in the South Caucasus. This moment requires special attention in the context of border tensions, the implementation of communication projects and the maintenance of the regional balance of power.”

It is interesting that you will not hear such texts from the Azerbaijani propaganda machine when there are contracts worth millions of euros with different countries. sealing Baku or when British Ambassador to Azerbaijan Duncan Norman announces that Great Britain-Azerbaijan relations in the field of defense are experiencing the strongest period in their history.

Of course, it is not the case that such texts and fears are addressed from Armenia to Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, Baku has warnings reviews also did in connection with the “Eagle Partner-2026” military exercise being held in the Republic of Armenia on June 17-25, especially when this year, in addition to the US servicemen, the servicemen of the French and Greek armed forces are participating. But Baku is not limited to this, and from time to time also accuses Iran of arming Armenia, as one of the specialized military and propaganda telegram channels close to the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan did recently.

So, Baku and Aliyev, at least in the propaganda field, continue to target the RA armed forces and issues related to defense capabilities, why not create “grounds” for the legitimization of possible provocations by first blaming the Armenian side?

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