With the customary military parade in Nicosia, the 62nd anniversary of the declaration of the independence of the Republic of Cyprus was celebrated, with the presence from Greece of the Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos and the Defense Minister General Konstantinos Floros.
The “surprise” that existed in this year’s parade was the appearance for the first time of tanks, armored vehicles and light vehicles, with monochrome paint, which replaced the standard variation with which the National Guard material is painted. The new semi-arid tint paint was adopted for serious operational reasons, which are related to increasing the survivability of the material.
In particular, it is a low-observability paint that degrades the thermal and infrared signature of the vehicle, achieving concealment from sensors of similar technology used in advanced precision weapons, aiming and observation systems and surveillance-recognition platforms.
The special paints are a product of the Greek company Intermat Defense and as it seems, a significant number of weapon systems of the National Guard have already been painted with them.
In the parade, T-80U/UK and AMX-30B2 tanks as well as BMP-3 Armored Fighting Vehicles appeared in the monochrome “stealth” paint. As it appeared in the same livery and Mercedes jeep vehicle of the 20th Armored Brigade, whose units operate with T-80U/UK tanks and BMP-3 TOMAs, it is inferred that the process evolves by Formation and unit and includes all material his/her and not only part of it. In addition, it can be seen that priority has been given to the painting of armored vehicles.
The development marks a step in the direction of strengthening the passive protection measures of the material, in keeping with the lessons learned from the latest military conflicts. In these, it was shown the possibility of revealing and attacking targets by sensors and weapons based on the thermal and infrared trace of each target.
In addition to these, National Guard personnel appeared for the first time in the parade with the new type of equipment that has been decided to be established as a whole. It was only on June 29 that a relevant agreement was signed for the supply of personal armor and protective equipment with the Israeli companies Source Vagabond and Marom Dolphin.
Personnel of the GEEF Commando Command, paraded with Marom Dolphin plate carrier combat equipment, while Source Vagabond ensembles were brought by the personnel of the other units.
