The Summer Olympics have finally ended – and so too has one of the biggest ever security operations France had ever seen.
The Games are celebrated every four years as one of the world’s most unifying events but they are also one of the most extensive security operations in the world,posing a massive headache for the host authorities.
Many in Paris and the rest of France therefore breathed a huge sigh of relief that the closing ceremony on Sunday night passed off safely.
“This event (the Olympics) posed unprecedented challenges in terms of securing areas, protecting people and property, accommodating the public and, where necessary, victims, as well as transport,” Paris Prefecture de Police communications said.
“The State, the City of Paris, the arrondissements, the local authorities concerned and the organizer worked together for a long time to meet these challenges.”
More than 30,000 police officers have been deployed around the French capital and beyond to watch over the Olympic events in the last two weeks.
The 2024 Olympic Games were held mostly in Paris and a whole array of security arrangements were put in place to ensure the event passed off without any major security issues.
These include the French Navy Campopter S-100 Unmanned Air System (UAS) Squadron which helped secure the waters around Marseille for the Olympic events which were held there.
The S-100 is stationed on board the French Navy’s Flottille 36F in Var, and monitored the vicinity of the Olympic Games, a total of 22,500 nautical square miles.
Flying from Saint-Mandrier (Var), the S-100s provided the authorities with real-time data of the maritime area towards Marseille, where a number of sailing, kitesurfing and windsurfing events took place.
While conducting these operations, the S-100 was equipped with a high performance EO/IR camera and an Automatic Identification System (AIS) to monitor and detect any suspicious activities at sea.
“It is an honour that the French Navy utilised their S-100 Squadron to monitor the surroundings of the Olympic Games. This is another great use case for the S-100 and shows the versatility of applications and capabilities“, said Lubos Sramek, Director of Schiebel Aéronaval SAS in Toulon.
While the Los Angeles Olympics are four years off, preparations are already underway and, in fact, have been since the IOC announced L.A. as the host city in 2017.
