Three and a half months before the start of the Paris Olympics, concerns are growing that the anti-drone shield being put in place for the Games is not up to the task of protecting the French capital from a potential attack.
Last year, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin singled out drones as without doubt the main (threat) to be dealt with at the Olympics.
However, a parliamentary report has now been deemed too sensitive to be made public, while exercises to test the system have proved inconclusive.
It’s annoying that this is coming out publicly but unfortunately, contrary to the official line, things aren’t really working as we’d like, a high-level security source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The spectre of a terror attack has haunted every Olympic host country since the 1972 Munich Games, when the Palestinian Black September organisation killed 11 members of the Israeli team.
The threat level rose significantly with the 9/11 attacks in New York, with the build-up to the Athens Games of 2004 dogged by constant speculation of ‘dirty’ bombs in the metro and a rapidly inflating security bill.
The scenario of an attack this year, with a swarm of drones swooping down on the river Seine during the opening ceremony on July 26 with 300,000 spectators on the quayside, is the authorities’ nightmare.
Despite France’s national security alert being raised to its maximum level following an attack on a concert venue in Moscow on March 22, for which Islamic State claimed responsibility, President Emmanuel Macron has said maintaining the opening ceremony on the Seine remained the preferred scenario.
With an estimated three million drones in France — most in private hands — the armed forces and government are working hard to prevent the flight of any potentially hostile craft.
The military response for the Paris Olympics was entrusted to Thales and CS Group in April 2022.
