Cyprus marked the 66th anniversary of its independence on Thursday with a military parade in Nicosia, during which the National Guard publicly displayed its Barak MX modular multi-mission air and missile defense system for the first time.
The medium-to-long-range defence system was among the military hardware showcased during the parade on Iosif Hadjiosif avenue.
The parade also saw military contingents from Egypt and Britain take part for the first time, alongside an Egyptian Air Force Airbus C295 transport aircraft.
French marines and US marines and sailors from the destroyer USS Roosevelt also participated, while two F-16 Viper fighter jets from the Hellenic Air Force conducted a low-altitude flyby.
President Nikos Christodoulides took the salute at the parade, which began at 11am, accompanied by Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas, Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias, National Guard chief Lieutenant General Emmanouel Theodorou and Greece’s Chief of the National Defence General Staff General Dimitrios Houpis.
Unmanned aerial vehicles were also displayed, while a formation of four Airbus H145M attack helicopters flew over Nicosia.
Among the foreign officials attending were Britain’s Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, representatives of the armed forces of Egypt, France and the United States, as well as foreign ambassadors and defence attachés.
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